Life with Drake
by schillingklaus
Summary: Melodramatic Novella. The marriage of Zoey's parents breaks apart, as her dad cheats on her mom with Audrey Parker. Told by Zoey Brooks. Dustin/Megan, Zoey/Craig, Quinn/Josh, Lola/Drake, ...


**Life With Drake**

* * *

**Klaus Schilling**

* * *

**Rating:** PG-13

**Disclaimer:** iDon't Own any of the shows or any of the other quoted or alluded artworks.

**Fandoms:** _Zoey 101_, _Drake & Josh_

**Genre:** Melodrama, Fluff, Family, Friends, Mystery

**Summary:** The marriage of Zoey's parents is broken. Dustin and Zoey come to live with dad's new fiancé, Audrey Parker, and her children Drake and Megan.

**Characters and Pairings:** Audrey Parker / Dr. Glazer Brooks, Walter Nichols / Coco Wexler, Megan Parker / Dustin Brooks, Drake Parker / Lola Martinez, Craig Ramirez / Zoey Brooks, Josh Nichols / Quinn Pensky, Eric Blonowitz / Stacey Dillsen, Ashley Blake / Logan Reese, Addie Singer / Chase Matthews, Corey Matthews / Trisha Kirby, Janie / Jack, Cheerleader Mandy / Vincent Blake, Mrs. Hayfer / Dean Rivers, Wendy / Michael Barret, Mindy Crenshaw / Wayne Gilbert and many many many more

**Timeline:** Diverges from canon _Zoey 101_ in late season three, pre _Good-Bye, Zoey!_

Diverges from canon _Drake & Josh_ after season four, but trashing _Helicopter_, _Dance Contest_, and the final movies.

* * *

**Preface**

The story has been written for _LiveJournal_ community _Crossovers50_, claim _Pacific Coast Academy_, prompt _Parents_

The story has been written for _LiveJournal_ community _Crossovers100_, claim _Pacific Coast Academy_, prompt _Parents_

* * *

**Contents**

* * *

Chapter 1 Zoey Brooks

* * *

Chapter 2 Rumours And Facts Of Adultery

* * *

Chapter 3 The Separation

* * *

Chapter 4 A New Home

* * *

Chapter 5 Megan At PCA

* * *

Chapter 6 Drake And Lola

* * *

Chapter 7 Saving Quinn

* * *

Chapter 8 Per Mile

* * *

Chapter 9 The Return Of Vince

* * *

Chapter 10 Twisting Spines

* * *

Chapter 11 The Prom

* * *

Chapter 12 Summer Break

* * *

Chapter 13 Senior Year

* * *

Chapter 14 Chuck Javers

* * *

Chapter 15 Happy Birthday

* * *

Chapter 16 First Wedding Preparations

* * *

Chapter 17 Last Chances

* * *

Chapter 18 Lola's Family Tree

* * *

Chapter 19 Crazy Steve

* * *

Chapter 20 Faithful And True

* * *

Chapter 21 Across The Doorstep

* * *

Chapter 22 Finale

* * *

**Chapter 1 Zoey Brooks**

* * *

Hello, my name is Brooks. Zoey Brooks. I was born in the state of Louisiana, but, early in my life, we moved down to California, San Diego County. I've got a younger brother, Dustin. He's sweet and innocent, but occasionally rebellish, especially when he wants to appear cool. I used to fear that he might get hurt in his ways, thus I've been overprotective of him, especially in the times we spent together at a boarding school near Hollywood. The name of the school is 'Pacific Coast Academy', or simply PCA.

It used to be for boys only, and Dustin was enrolled already at elementary school times.

I was thirteen years old when the school opened its gates for girls, as well, and I was one of the first girls to join.

The PCA looked more like a spa than a school.

And I thought that Dustin missed me, which was somewhat true, regardless of how much he tried to hide it. But I had also made many friends at that school.

* * *

My best friend was Chase Bartholomew Matthews.

I met him when I was on the campus for the very first time, making him startle and fall off his bike.

Chase used to be very nice to me, with a few exceptions to be mentioned later on, but he was really naïve, and his attention span was, apparently, quite poor, getting him distracted all the time. According to my room-mates, Chase had a fatal crush on me, but he never really showed it. Or maybe he did, but I was too busy to care.

One day, when I came back to school for my sophomore year, I was surprised that he had got a girlfriend that was not me, my room-mates' fantasies notwithstanding.

Said girl, Rebecca, treated Chase jealously as her exclusive property, and tried to force him to stay away with me. She's the most evil beast I've ever encountered.

Alas, I just wanted Chase to be happy.

Fortunately, Chase did not want to get commanded by some fury, so he broke with her as soon as he felt constricted by her perversely insane jealousy.

We had sworn not to turn jealous or endanger our friendship in any way, whenever I had a boy-friend, or Chase had a girl-friend.

I had dated a few boys thereafter, and our agreement worked very well, although those guys, such as Lance Rivers[1:1] — the son of our headmaster — and Danny[1:2] , turned out to be not worthy of mine.

Chase had apparently given up on wanting to be my boy-friend. He had come to understand that in our times, boys and girls break up too fast, and that it was better to keep me as a life-long friend than as a short-term lover.

And I knew that it wouldn't have lasted very long, as Chase was prone for severe misunderstandings and fits of impatience, which would have ultimately destroyed our friendship.

So, after all, conserving the state of our frienship for good appeared as the one and only viable solution, when it came down to it.

* * *

Chase's sidekick, and best friend since middle school, had been Michael Barret. He was an overall nice guy, but he was prone to being annoyingly funny, lacking any seriosity when it came down to anything. He played the transversal flute with some success, and he was a great entertainer.

Yet I knew that I was going to miss him a lot, should we ever get separated. I often enough had to come to his rescue.

* * *

Logan was the third guy sharing a room with Chase and Michael. He was a totally abominable jerk, through and through. Unfortunately, he was part and parcel with Chase and Michael, so I was forced to accept him as a friend, although he was never worthy of mine. Logan had treated girls like dirt all the time.

When I was new here, I wanted to join the basketball team, but Logan declared it boys-only. I set up a team of girls, really only of myself, and, later, my former room-mate Dana, in order to challenge them.

Even though we were so close, Logan still deemed girls unworthy of being in the team, although the coach did not share his stubborn attitude. He only allowed girls as cheerleaders, thinking that cheerleading just meant looking cute, which, of course, was nonsense.

Unfortunately, I almost fell prey to his fake charm, but, during a theatre play[1:3], I came to see that he was deprecable through and through. I refused to kiss him, as told by the script, making him look like the idiot that he was.

It was not the only occasion upon which we girls made Logan pay for his jerkish arrogance.

One day, Logan had tried to teach Dustin in womanising, as my little bro thought of it as cool. Logan had arranged a double date with Tracy and Sandy Baldwin[1:4] , telling Dustin to treat the girls like crap.

Dustin refused to do so.

Tracy, the eldest of the Baldwin sisters, pushed Logan into the fountain.

That was so cool.

* * *

Then there were my room-mates, and also best female friends: Lola and Quinn.

Lola was a really gifted Hollywood actress. When she was new, she fooled me into deeming her a dangerous goth freak, scaring me almost to death. Lola was totally arrogant, as she assumed to obtain her first Oscar while still being a teenager.

Even later, I never knew whether she was acting, or not.

In practising for movie rôles, she often kept on annoying us.

Nevertheless, we had been best friends for several yars.

Lola was particularly addicted to good-kissing boys.

I still wonder why she had once dated Chase who was such a dweeb, with his busht hair and stuff.

She was probably just acting, either, practising for rôles where she was the on-screen iterest of some actor she did not deem attractive.

And how many people feign loving someone in real life?

* * *

Last, but not least, there was Quinn Pensky.

Although we had used to hang out a lot since we arrived at the Pacific Coast Academy, we became room-mates only in my third year.

Quinn is a science geek girl. She often makes scientific experiments with more or less striking success.

Quinnventions, as Quinn called her inventions, were the fruits of her hobby. Sometimes they were useful, but they were also not unlikely to backfire.

She was very keen on what she did, but on some occasions, she became totally desperate.

One day, Paige Howard[1:5] , the winner of the National Science Fair, came to the Pacific Coast Academy, presenting her invention. Paige was totally nice, but she got Quinn to envy her desperately, almost to the point of giving up on science.

When Paige's demonstration failed in a dangerous manner, Quinn fixed it, albeit hesitatingly, thus also fixing her own self-conficence.

* * *

For us kids, living at a boarding school, even if it was just a car ride of three hours away from home, meant being somewhat distanced from what happened back at home.

We might have returned home during the weekends, but we liked it too much being at the PCA to make it worthy the hassle, plus our parents were very busy, even on weekends. _What sort of business? This had always escaped from us, at least for quite some time._

What we had missed out on most, was that our dad lead sort of a double life, and that our parents' marriage wasn't as happy as we had always supposed it to be.

In spite of not being actresses, many people, including my parents, achieved acting towards each other, and towards us kids, in a fake yet credible manner.

Hence, one day ...

* * *

**Chapter 2 Rumours And Facts Of Adultery**

* * *

I was the captain of our basketball team, and this meant a lot of work and responsibility.

We had made it into the state play-offs.

I was excited about the schedule. All of a sudden, I received a phone call. 'Zoey Brooks ...'

The girl calling me identified herself as some Megan Parker.

I hadn't yet heard about her, although her voice appeared vaguely familiar. _The name __Parker__, alas, was way too familiar: Drake Parker was my favourite rock star, since I had hit teenage, which coincided with the start of Drake's career. He had once performed at my school in exchange for t-shirts which I had designed for his band._[_2:1_] 'Do you happen to be related to Drake Parker, the famous rock star?'

Megan wasn't pleased. 'Do you have to mention that boob?'

I wondered what a boob was.

Megan used to namecall useless boys like this, in particular her elder brother Drake, and her step-brother Joshuah Nichols who was as old as Drake.

'OK, so ... why do you need me,' I wondered cluelessly.

Megan insisted in me going into some dark and silent corner, and to sit down. Then she told me something that was probably not easy to swallow.

_Being hard to swallow, that's rather subjective, but better be careful ..._ I followed Megan's orders.

Megan told me that the marriage between her mom Audrey, and Joshuah's dad Walter, had suffered from many misunderstandings. Hence she had spied her mother and figured that she was cheating on him with some Dr. Glazer.

I pitied Megan, because her mother's second marriage was in danger, and I could only guess how hard this must have been for a middle school girl.

But Dr. Glazer was nobody I could have cared about, as I had never heard about him.

Megan told me that Glazer was a medic who ripped off his patients in a shameless manner.

I still did not understand why she told me, a total stranger, about all that. OK, admittedly, as it was Drake's mother, I feared that Drake's music would have started to suffer from the separation of his parents, but I was not Dr. Phyllis or Oprah Winfrey, was I?

But then Megan sent me a picture of said Dr. Glazer, in the arms of her mother.

I was consternated. _He looked a lot like dad!_

Megan sighed. 'I had to bribe and fool people into helping me with my research, but then I figured that Dr. Glazer is leading a double life, he has got a wife, and at least two children, and his real surname is Brooks, Glazer is his mother's maiden name ...'

I felt like hit athwart by a sledge hammer. I had to look up the information about grandma's maiden name, but it was going to turn out as correct. I thanked Megan, I would sure get to hear from her again. I was not sure about what to do. _Talk to my mother? To dad? To Dustin? Hell, poor Dustin, he might have died from this revelation._ Hence I decided to spare Dustin, as long as possible. _And did our mother even know about dad cheating on her? That sounded so gross._

* * *

I sank onto my bed, rubbing my head against my only reliable friend, my plush kraken Squidward[2:2]. .

Lola Martinez wondered why I was so sad.

Quinn Pensky, offered to let me drink from an antidepressive potion she was working on.

Alas, I was totally disgusted, and I had come to figure that Quinn's inventions were not to be trusted. I told them that I was going to recede from the office of the captain of the basketball team.

Lola was shocked. 'But then the jerks in the team will laugh at you.'

I knew that Lola was right, but I wasn't in the mood of caring about that. 'OK, reason is,' said I, in a very sad manner, 'my dad cheats on my mom with another woman.' I sobbed piteously.

Quinn started talking about statistics cincerning divorces.

_Did she have to rub salt into my wounds?_ I sobbed even more. I stammered, telling them incoherently about Megan's call. Only much later did I get to know that, had I been mentioning Drake Parker by name, many things would have turned out differently, taking a short cut. But I was too sad, and too exhausted, to talk well.

Lola and Quinn shrugged. They told me to talk to my on-and-off boyfriend Chase Matthews.

I shrugged. _Maybe Chase could have helped, but he might equally have felt used._

* * *

I walked into 148 Maxwell Hall, the dorm that Chase shared with his "friends" Logan and Michael.

I so knew that Logan was going to taunt me mercilessly. I walked up to Chase, exposing a sad face.

Chase was worried. He wrapped one arm around my shoulder. 'What's up, Zoey?'

I moaned. 'My parents ... their marriage ...'

Chase had known my father when he dropped me here for the first time. He had always got the impression that they were a perfect couple, thus he couldn't take those hints.

I sighed. 'Dad is cheating on my mother.'

Chase choked and gasped. 'Are they going to divorce?'

I shrugged helplessly.

'So what,' interjected Logan Reese, 'my dad divorces each other year. I've got more step-mothers than pieces of undergarment.'

'Whatever, I need to resign from the captain's office, and I'm not in the mood for any other regular extracurricular activity, either.'

Chase shrugged. 'Must be hard. If my parents did something like that, hell, they argue a lot, I'd probably jump off the cliffs, or something like that.'

Michael took his pair of clackers, and he started clackering mercilessly.

Logan did what he had to do, talking about girls being so unreliable, they should never be accepted into the boys' basketball team, let alone voted into the captain's office, but he did not get me to care about it.

I just insisted in not bothering Dustin with the whole thing.

Logan sighed. 'He's old enough to take care of himself. You're way too protective.' He taunted me in a sadistical manner.

Chase glared at Logan.

Michael grinned like a monkey, but it wasn't funny.

Chase scolded both Logan and Michael.

* * *

I decided to call my dad, and to ask him in a straight manner about Audrey. I was disgusted, but I had to do that. I could really not live with the creepy feeling of a lack of clarity concerning things as important as the state of the relationship of my parents. Picking my phone, I typed the magic numbers. I was connected. 'Hi dad, this is Zoey ... no, everything is OK at our school. ... this also goes for Dustin ...'

Dad had no clue about the seriousness of the topic that forced me to call him.

I breathed heavily. 'Dad, I've recently received a call from a girl from San Diego Belleview ...'

Already the mention of Belleview, the quarter of San Diego where the Parkers lived, made him gasp.

I pressed hard. 'Her name is Megan. She has seen a man that looks like you, really really like you, with a woman different from mom, and precisely, her own mother, Audrey Parker.'

Dad started talking in an evasive manner.

This told me that I was about getting to some critical point.

I did not let him get away with his attempt to switch to pointless chitchat. 'Do you meet a woman named Audrey Parker on a regular base?' I heard a curse, followed by a click, and I noticed that the connection was gone. _This said everything, didn't it?_

* * *

I lay on my bed, pressing my face flat against the pillow.

Lola wanted me to join her to Sushi Rox, our favourite restaurant on the campus.

But, really, I was just not able to handle showing up among many pupils.

Lola shrugged, and she walked out on me.

I sobbed silently. _Megan was right, dad had gone astray, and he was too much of a coward to admit to it. What to do now? Talk to mom? But maybe dad was already on his way to give up on his adulterous relationship with Audrey Parker, and then she would be bothered in vain, hell, she would start arguing with dad over it, leading to real trouble which would not have started if I had kept my mouth shut._ I wanted to ask Megan about what to do, in order to save our respective family. _But what if she wasn't even interested in saving hers? She was talking about her step-brother Josh in a really derogatory manner. What if Megan wanted a second girl in her family, to be able to stand up to the boys? Questions, questions, questions. Megan was a really scary person, coming to think of it. She had spied, and bribed, and conned people, in order to get at the informations she wanted to have._

Chase walked in. 'Any news from your parents?'

I told him about the phone call. 'But, I don't know whether dad is over his adulterous phase or not. If he is, telling mom would make her unnecessarily upset.'

Chase also wondered about Megan's scary attitude. 'What about her brothers? Do they know?'

I had not thought about that. _Megan apparently did not care about the feelings of the "boobs", as she used to call them. The question was: Should I try to ... but Drake was such a jerk, or so I had heard. Maybe that was part and parcel with becoming a rock star._

So, after all, it appeared that I was doomed to waiting for a few days, and then try again to contact dad, hoping that he was going to be less evasive.

* * *

The next morning, I woke up with some really creepy feeling. _Knowing that there was something smelling rotten in the state of California, and not seeing a way to act actively in order to do something about that, this hurt so much._

Lola and Quinn just told me to relax, but was that even possible in such a situation?

I couldn't help but forcing myself to ignore everything, and follow my daily routines..

* * *

Big break.

I crossed the way of Mr. Billiam[2:3] , Dustin's teacher for geography.

The teacher asked me why Dustin had not been in classes this morning.

I shrugged. _Strange! Dustin had usually got a great presence record._ 'I should go and look for him.'

Mr. Billiam urged me to do that. 'The upcoming tests will decide about whether he's making it into the upper classes, or not.'

I was consternated. I grabbed my phone, typing Dustin's number, but there was no reply. I was thoroughly worried, but the break was not long enough to take care of that, as much as I felt urged to do something.

* * *

I sacrificed lunch time in order to look after my little brother. I stood outside his dorm, and I knocked a few times, but he did not reply. I heard him weeping.

Along came Scooter[2:4] , his room-mate.

I asked Scooter what was going on.

Scooter unlocked his door, letting me in.

I saw Dustin, trying to hide under his fluffy blanket. 'Dustin? What the ...'

Scooter sighed. 'I think it has to do with his last errant for Logan Reese. He behaves so strange since he had met him.'

Dustin was sort of Logan's errant boy, against my explicit advice. He wanted to earn money for candy, and for gifts for our parents. In former times, Dustin had considered Logan as an example to live up to, because he had always been flirting with girls, something he had wanted to learn. But once Dustin saw that arrogance and machoism wasn't his thing, and that girls deserved to be treated with respect and honour, he had seen the light. After that, Dustin needed Logan only in order to get at some money, although I suspected that Logan was always going to have a very bad influence on Dustin.

I bowed over Dustin. 'Hi, bro, has Logan said anything annoying to you?' _Logan could be sucj a pest._

Dustin sobbed.

I shook Dustin, who was still wrapped tightly into his blanket. 'Come on, talk about it!'

Dustin moaned. 'Logan said that dad is cheating on mom.'

I was consternated. I had told Logan not to tell Dustin about it. _What a creep! Logan had always been such a filthy jerk, and he would always be._ I rued having ever trusted Logan. 'OK, but maybe it's something that just happened, and it's over. It's better for mom not to know about it, then, maybe, everything will be fine.'

Dustin sobbed. 'Mom does know about it.'

I gasped. 'How do you know?'

Dustin stammered: 'I've called her this morning, and told her. She said that dad may go and shovel his own tomb.'

Now I was even more consternated. _Trying to keep Dustin out of the trouble resulted exactly in what I had been trying to avoid. Alas, Dustin was not to be scolded for that, he just clang too much to mom, and he had acted for panic._ I sat down, and I hugged Dustin tightly, or, rather, the bundle wrapped into a blanket. 'It will be alright.' Alas, I had a hard time keeping myself from screaming and weeping. I wondered what was going on at home, when mom faced dad with the information from Dustin. _Maybe they were going to forgive each other, they had done so quite a few times, but that had not been not for adultery, rather for stuff like returning too late from work, postponing vacations, or having said a few not-so-kind words about each other's parents._ Again, I feared that intervening was just going to stir up more trouble.

Scooter sighed. He sure did not want to get dragged into our family matters. 'Dustin, I've got something from the cafeteria for you.' Scooter told me that Dustin had already skipped breakfast.

I had to return to afternoon classes. I asked Scooter to keep good care of Dustin. 'I'll look after him after classes. See you.'

Scooter nodded. 'The marriage of my neighbours, Mr. Nichols and Mrs. Parker, is insane enough. I don't need to meddle with your parents', on top of that.'

My eyes bugged out.

I had not known that Scooter's family and that of Megan had been neighbours. Maybe I should have told Scooter about that coincidence, but I was too much in a hurry. 'Scooter, we should talk about that later!'

Scooter shrugged. 'OK?' He was apparently a bit confused.

Alas, I was already on my way out.

* * *

I met Scooter and Dustin in the evening, right in their dorm.

Dustin had apparently only eaten a little bit of the food that Scooter had brought him.

I sighed. 'You need to eat something, baby!'

Dustin sobbed.

Now I had to talk to scooter. 'You told me that you know about Mr. Nichols and Mrs. Parker. Do they have children named Megan, Drake, and Josh?'

Scooter nodded. 'That's them! Do you know them?'

I moaned. 'Not in person, but ... it's Mrs. Parker with whom dad is cheating on mom, or has been.'

Scooter was flabbergasted.

Dustin grunted. 'Drake Parker? The rock star?'

Scooter nodded. 'He thinks to be the greatest, but he's a jerk.'

Dustin sighed. 'But his music is cool!'

Scooter nodded again. 'By the way, Mr. Nichols is going to fetch me next Friday, and take me back to San Diego for the next days. He has to do in Los Angeles, he 's a weather prophet.'

I choked. 'That Mr. Nichols? He is so unreliable. And if I had to get to know a weather reporter, it would be Bruce Winchill. His hair is cool, or so says Lola.'

Dustin chuckled.

I sighed. _There were quite a few troubles ahead._

* * *

Next day, I called dad again.

He confirmed what I had guessed: He had already been over his adulterous relationship, at least almost, and he was back on the way to mom. For that avail, he had volunteered for a position in his pharmeceutic company's new branch in England, hoping for starting over with mom, somewhere far away from home, and from Audrey Parker.

But when he had mentioned his plans unto mom, she had called him a hypocritical creep for having lived a double life, and feigning that it was all OK by now.

I sighed with despair. _Certainly, mom had not been wrong. But she should still have given dad another chance._ I didn't want to take sides, and I certainly did not want Dustin to be pushed into taking sides. _So, after 18 years, the seemingly perfect marriage between dad and mom had come to an end._ I still had no idea what that meant for Dustin and me.

Mom was mad at me because I had not told her as soon as I had come to know about dad's deceit. She was inclined to move out on him, and to return straight to her parents in Boston, Massachusetts.

It was evident that Dustin and I, we were going to stay at the Pacific Coast Academy, as neither dad nor mom were able to bear us on a daily basis, but what was going to be our home for the longer breaks, and for one or the other weekend?

I had to stay strong, both for Dustin and myself.

Quinn and Lola were only of limited help.

_And my male friends? Better to forget them! _

Logan had turned out as the worst creep ever. He just laughed about Dustin's and my destiny.

Chase was totally naïve, although he tried honestly to comfort me, and to understand my situation.

I appreciated Chase a lot for that.

Michael was nowhere near serious. If he stopped clackering, he started swooning about his girl-friend Lisa Perkins, although the two of them were so prone to mutual misunderstandings, it was plain horrible.

* * *

**Chapter 3 The Separation**

* * *

Another weekend was in front of us.

I would have returned home if the situation between dad and mom had been normal, but it wasn't.

Mom was about getting her belongings together, as announced.

And then I saw Walter Nichols. _He looked even weirder than in the weather forecast._ I was almost going to puke, and I understood why Megan was so sarcastic.

Lola talked a lot about Bruce Winchill, the cutest weather reporter west of the Mississippi, and about what a dweeb Walter was.

Scooter sighed. 'OK, Dustin, see us on monday!'

Dustin nodded, and he hugged Scooter.

I sighed. _Now my family was broken, which I had never wished to come, while Walter Nichols and Audrey Parker were still one hypocritically happy couple, although Megan might have wished them to separate, just in order to get away from Walter Nichols, and, even more, his apparently equally dorky son Joshuah._

Walter still had to show one of Scooter's advisers a form signed by Mrs. Carmichael, Scooter's mom.

Coco Wexler, the girls' dorm adviser, was not properly responsible for the boys, but she knew Scooter and Dustin from a camping trip to San Joaquin Valley. 'OK, Sir, I'm doing that.' She grinned. Messy as she was, she forgotten to wipe some piece of ravioli, complete with smelly sauce, from her cheeks.

Walter thanked Coco. 'Hey, ma'am, there's something on your cheeks!'

Coco wondered. 'What?'

Walter stepped ahead, and he licked the half-eaten ravioli off Coco's cheek. 'Yummy!'

My stomach churned.

I walked straight to the next toilets. _Megan was so right, such a step-dad was an embarrassment._

Dustin made strong remarks.

When I returned, I had to see that Coco and Walter were making out, in front of impatient Scooter.

I knew that Coco had a fiancé called Carl[3:1] , a softball trainer of some loser team, but they were such a horrible on-and-off couple.

Obviously, Scooter was really disgusted.

I felt utterly compelled to do something about that. I took my cellular phone, and I typed Megan's number.

Luckily, Megan was right there.

I sighed. 'Your step-dad is such a gross pig! You've got all reason to want your mom and him to break.' I told her about his adulterous scene with my equally gross dorm adviser.

Megan mentioned that this was just the tip of the iceberg. But she thanked me.

I knew beyond any doubt that Megan was going to use that information for a decent purpose. _No serious mother deserved such a husband, not even Audrey Parker._ I didn't know whether to say that the end of my parents' marriage was all Audrey's fault. _Things were not always that easy._

* * *

A few days later, the consequences were evident.

Audrey had trashed Walter without a trace of remorses, much to Drake's and Josh's dismay, or so told me Megan, grinning demonically.

What I had not expected: Audrey Parker and my dad used that occasion in order to make up, again.

In other words, I was soon going to have a step-mother, Audrey Parker, plus two step-siblings: scary and intrigant Megan Parker, and jerkish Drake Parker.

Well, we were going to live at PCA most of the time, thus we were not going to see Audrey too often.

Drake was about turning eighteen, and I knew that he was going to drop out of school, just to be able to concentrate solely on his career as a band leader.

It did not make any sense sending him to a prep school.

Megan, on the other hand, was a different situation, as she was about Dustin's age. She might have come to our school.

In that case, Dustin and I were going to have to put up with her, somewhat.

Megan hated Drake and Josh, or, as she called them, the boobs. She might have had good reasons for that, if they were real jerks, like Logan.

In that case, I did not have to fear that Megan was going to grudge against Dustin.

My little brother was totally not what Megan called boobs. He had demonstrated that when he had refused to join Logan's path of womanising[3:2] . Dustin had exhibited a decent amount of respect for girls, it was totally unlikely that he was going to rub Megan Parker the wrong way.

On the other way, I had never come to know Josh, so Megan's reasons for her hostility might have been way less compulsive than she made me think.

Even in that case, it would be possible for Dustin to avoid Megan as much as possible, as he had tried to avoid me whenever I acted in an overprotective manner.

* * *

Term break was around the corner.

Usually, vacations were an occasion to recover from school, but this time, it was going to mean more stress and calamities than school had ever caused unto me.

According to the latest news from home, Megan was going to join our school right for the beginning of the new term. This message filled me with a few worries. Was she going to start conning, pranking, and spying on us other pupils?

Apparently, I was going to be in charge with getting Megan started, a dubious responsibility, as she was still very scary. But I was determined to try to give my best for her. For the moment, I was left with a decision to make. _Where to go over the holidays?_

One possibility was to stay on the campus, but it was almost empty over the vacations, and I was going to bore myself to death.

Dustin preferred to visit mom in Boston. He still clinged strongly to her, thus his decision made a whole lot of sense to me. He was very sad, though, because I did not choose to do the same.

Alas, my mother was still horribly upset, because I had refrained from informing her earlier.

Most of my "friends", i.e. Chase, Michael, Logan, Lola, and Quinn, even her "boyfriend" Mark del Figgalo, were going on a camping trip to Yosemite Park in the wilderness of central California, among bears, coyotes, and other creeps.

I would have joined them, but their "responsible" adult was Coco Wexler, accompanied by no other than Walter Nichols.

The circumstances were so repulsive.

Or I may have visited dad at our new home, which was no other than the home of Audrey Parker, and her two kids.

I was finally going to meet Audrey, which filled me with mixed feelings.

Megan was going to be there, too, because her trip to her friend from Colorado had to be cancelled.

Drake had already left school. He was probably on a break between two tours, making me meet him, too.

I hadn't had to expect any problems with Drake in particular, for, when he had given a concert at our school, he had really been all nice and spice.

But he could have turned into a jerk, or he could have been a jerk just at home.

I wasn't looking forward to all that, but it was the apparently lesser evil.

* * *

I still hadn't mentioned unto anyone that Drake Parker was my future step-brother. Apparently, I didn't want to get bothered by fangirls who wanted to make out with Drake, or by fanboys who wanted to live up to his example. I knew that this was coming, sooner or later, but, for the time being, I preferred to live in peace. _Life was hard enough with all the recent changes, I didn't need to slip into more mayhem, not right now._ I just had to remember Drake's first visit. _Nicole, back then my very best friend, had almost hugged him to the ground. Granted, Nicole was a nymphomaniac, and that had made her parents take her off my coeducational prep school. But other girls had cheered for him, and thrown a few clothes at him. And that was back when Drake was at the start of his career. Now he had landed a record contract, and so on._ _ I moaned. __And the boys? Logan naturally envied Drake to the death. Michael didn't really care. Chase had started learning guitar, and he considered Drake as someone he wanted to learn from. My brother Dustin had missed out on Drake's concert because of previous lack of sleep, but he still loved Drake's music to death, although he would be disgusted by his jerk-style manners, as he was by Logan's. But he thought of Drake's music as totally cool, as did all tweenies and teenies here in Southern California._ I had told Dustin not to mention unto anyone about his future step-brother, and he stuck to it, as he was still shocked by the consequences of his loud mouth, i.e. having told mom about dad's adultery. Whatever the situation, I had to move on.

* * *

**Chapter 4 A New Home**

* * *

Dad had fetched me from the airport.

Now I stood at the entrance of the residence of the Parkers.

It was a fairly large house, with a beautiful garden.

Audrey shook my hand.

I had a creepy feeling when I saw the woman for the first time, as she had killed the marriage of my parents. But I tried not to be unfriendly, anyways.

Audrey showed me through the house.

We passed the foyer, and we walked up the stairways.

Audrey explained that I was going to share a room with Megan. 'She's now in oboe practice, and she should be back in an hour.'

Megan's room was not overly large, but for the few days, this was bearable, well it would have been bearable for a normal girl, but I did not know whether it was easy with someone as scary as Megan.

I dropped my luggage.

My belongings from my old home were not yet here.

For this avail, I had stuffed a few clothes more into my suitcase.

We went a bit more upstairs.

Audrey expleined where Drake and Josh lived. 'Josh is living with us until he moves away for the Caltech. Walter has moved to Los Angeles, and Josh doesn't want to switch schools that close to graduation.'

I nodded. 'My friend Quinn might go to Caltech, too, when she's through high-school.'

The room was really spacy.

Dustin was going to live in here.

Fortunately, Drake, Dustin, and Josh were hardly supposed to be home at the same time, not for too long, anyways.

I started getting my luggage done, hoping not to use Megan's facilities unwittingly.

* * *

I woke up. I must have fallen asleep after getting my luggage done, but now I heard a girl's voice from the foyer.

'Mom!'.

Apparently, Megan had just arrived.

I walked downstairs, ready to greet her.

And there she was.

Megan Parker, a girl just a few months older than Dustin.

Her eyes stabbed my mind like daggers.

'Megan?' I tried to stay friendly, although it was infinitely hard for me. Then I choked. _Somehow, her face was familiar to me._ I tried to remember. _Paige Howard! Were they the same person? Now, Paige was all around nice and friendly, while Megan scared me to death. I tried to push the thought aside, deeming it a random pathology. For, if she was Paige, she would have seen me already a few months earlier. Had she been spying on me?_ In thinking closer about it, I would have spoiled my vacations, and I did not want that, in virtue of the things to come.

Megan shook her head. 'Nice to see you!'

Her grin was subtly sarcastic.

From Lola had I learnt to detect subtle sarcasm. As an actress, she was particularly experienced and skilled in discerning subliminal feelings.

We walked back to our room.

Megan disposed with her oboe. 'Drake's music is just noise! If you want to know what music is ...'

I sighed. I liked all sorts of music, especially hip hop, but I was OK with classic instrumental music.

Megan looked at my belongings. Fortunately she did not notice that I had made anything wrong. She glared. 'OK, there are a few rules for us sharing this room ... don't touch this, and that ...' She explained the zones and things I was supposed to keep my fingers off. She appeared to menace me subtly.

* * *

The scary impression that Megan had made to me had been deepening more and more.

Now it was dinner time.

The door bell rang.

Audrey shrugged. 'Drake?' She walked to the door.

Yes, it was Drake Parker.

I smiled, but not wholeheartedly. 'Drake!'

Drake looked at me. 'Zoey Brooks! Long time no see!'

Dad and Audrey looked surprised.

I told them about Drake's concert at my school, which had been three years ago. I hugged Drake.

Megan noticed that, and she shot a totally disapproving glance at us.

Drake smiled. 'Coming to think of it ... if you want to come to my concert next week, I've still got a few spare tickets, with backstage. Official price is around 60 bucks.'

I nodded. 'Sure!' Then I told Audrey, dad, and Megan how I had raised funds in order to finanace Drake's concert at our school. 'And finally, Drake played for no money, but for the rights to Drake t-shirts that I had designed.'

Megan was annoyed.

* * *

It was time to go to bed.

Megan snuggled into her blanket. 'Don't dare to wake me up before 8.30 a.m. We Parkers have got a very fragile sleep.'

I promised not to do so. Then I dared to ask. 'Oh, Megan, we've met today for the very first time, right.'

Megan grunted: 'Of course, what do you think otherwise?' She stared in her usual demonic manner, so unlike Paige.

Lola had taught me that people who talk like that usually hide something.

But I preferred to give up on the devious thought. _Megan would have had to be a hell of an actress in order to appear fairly nice as Paige at our school, while she was really a naughty witch. Lola would have had problems to act like that._

* * *

I was getting ready for the concert.

Megan was not coming to join me. 'I'm going to a club with my friend Janie[4:1] , instead. One warning: Don't let Drake get too close to you, or you will rue the day.'

I shrugged. 'What do you mean too close?'

Megan glared penetrantly. 'Such as in making out, and similar perversities.'

I chuckled. 'Hey, we are now almost family. Why would I want to get too close to him? People don't date, and make out, within a family, do they?'

Megan grinned with mischief. 'Drake is a boob, he can't get his fingers off girls that are close to his age, and not exactly hideous.'

I shrugged. 'OK ...' _At least, Megan had almost made me a compliment. But was she just envious because her brother had got a lot of luck with girls, while she didn't have a boyfriend, at least not right now, she had once mentioned a really obnoxious ex-boyfriend, whatever?_ Alas, if Megan was right, I would better have taken care of myself.

* * *

Drake's concert had been wonderful.

I applauded, just like all of the guests.

He had performed my favourite songs: _Highway To Nowhere_, _Makes Me Happy_, _Up Periscope_[4:2] , and more.

Drake was finished, and he walked over.

We had agreed on going home together.

Drake asked me whether I wanted to come with him for a root beer or so.

I shrugged. _Did he want to introduce me to his colleagues as a new family member?_ 'OK, along with the other members of the band, right?'

Drake coughed. 'Er ... I rather thought about just the two of us.' He grinned flirtatiously at me.

I fainted. 'Drake, forget about that.' _Probably, Megan had been so right about her brother ..._

My voice was determined.

Drake sighed. 'Ouch, that doesn't happen often.'

I grunted. 'Just forget about it, OK?'

Drake moaned.

I sighed. 'Drake, I've seen that you flirt with seemingly every girl between 15 and 25. Don't you get tired?'

Drake grinned arrogantly.

I asked him whether the girls stayed with him for long.

Drake shrugged. 'I can't remember more than three weeks with the same girl. Then it gets boring.'

I sighed. 'OK, maybe you just look for the wrong girls, or you scare them away with your manners.'

Drake scratched his head. 'Oh, really? Do I?' He shrugged carelessly.

I insisted that, as we were now almost family, I was not going to hurt him for his jerkish attempts to flirt with me, but I was trying to help him behaving appropriately, getting him respected by a few girls that were suitable for him, instead of being juggled around by the mass of girls who just think it cool to make out with a hot guy, even a super star. 'You will be much more reliable as a band leader, if you stop behaving this way.'

Drake was downright disappointed. Alas, he still introduced me to his band's drummers.

Neil[4:3] was a boy in Dustin's age, still a bit timid, but really gifted.

Gary,[4:4] the other drummer, appeared to me as a cross-dresser. Really, he wore his sister's blouse because he hadn't had anything clean at hand.

Alas, things like that happened very often to Gary.

The other members had got other things to do.

I shook hands with the guys, but it was now really late. So I decided to ask Drake to call it a day.

* * *

I was back in our room. 'Megan, you've been so right. Drake has really tried to hit on me.'

Megan glared. 'Oh?'

I sighed. 'But I've turned him down without remorse.'

Megan grinned. 'Cool! Finally, a girl with the guts to turn him down!'

I nodded. 'But I still don't hate him, as you seem to do.'

Megan chuckled. 'Well, he's a boob, and he needs to be treated appropriately for that. A few pranks here and there are in order.'

I sighed. 'Megan, I know that Drake is a dangerous girl eater, but we're family, so I'm going to help him getting away from his devious path.'

Megan laughed hysterically. 'Good luck. Or, better, nice try, but you are just wasting your time.'

I shrugged. _Giving up that fast was not an option._

Megan giggled. 'Dream on! Boobs need to be tantalised, not spoonfed.'

I shook my head. _Apparently, patience was not exactly Megan's strength._ 'OK, one thing, Dustin has never treated any girl like dirt, at least not since he had seen how wrong that is, by watching the example of ultra-jerk Logan Reese. So, don't bother him, please!' I told her about the double-date with the Baldwin sisters, where Dustin had seen the light.

Megan choked. 'Logan Reese? The son of Hollywood legend Malcolm Reese[4:5] ?'

I nodded. 'Yeah, he's even worse a jerk than Drake.' I told her about my painful experiences with Logan.

Megan cackled. 'OK, you probably love and defend your little brother, no matter what, but I have to see it on my own. If he isn't a boob, he doesn't have to fear my wrath. Simple, isn't it?'

I nodded. _Dustin was better not going to turn out as a boob, whatever that was._ I had talked to Dustin over our cellular phones — several times while we were in our vacations. _He was fine, and so was mom, but he was really excited when thinking about his new family._

* * *

Unfortunately, I didn't get to meet Joshuah before the end of the term break. I would have wanted to see whether Megan had really been fair to him, so I knew what to expect for Dustin.

According to Drake, Megan had always pranked the hell out of him and Josh, for no good reason. But she had given me a lot of reasons why she considered Drake to be a boob, and Josh had usually stuck together with him, or so she said.

Alas, the vacations were over, and this meant: Back to PCA!

Dad was going to fetch Dustin from the airport, while Audrey would take Megan and me right to the campus.

* * *

**Chapter 5 Megan At PCA**

* * *

I guided Megan to her dorm, 101 Butler Hall. 'Oops, that was once my dorm, when I came here for the very first time.'

Megan shrugged.

I sighed. 'It wasn't easy, as the school had just opened for girls. There were many silly jerks here, well, there are still quite a few ...'

'Such as Logan Reese,' wondered Megan.

I nodded solemnly, while my cellular phone rang. I picked it up. 'Zoey Brooks ... oh, hi, Dustin! Thanks, I'm fine. I'm helping Megan, 101 Butler Hall ... yeah, I know that you know that address ... OK! Come over whenever you want!' I sighed. _The encounter between the two of them was inevitable._ I hoped that Dustin was given a fair chance.

Megan liked the facilities in here. 'A fridge in your dorm? Cool!'

I nodded.

Megan wondered about the electronics in here. 'Anyone that could help me get my ... equipment installed?'

I didn't know what sort of equipment Megan was talking about, but it had to do with technology, so there was one person I would ask if I were in trouble. 'Sure, Quinn Pensky, my roomie!'

Megan went pale, but she recovered fast. 'Quinn Pensky?'

Something told me that Quinn was not quite unknown to her. This brought me back to thinking about Paige Howard, winner of the National Science Fair, who had been envied a lot by Quinn.

I nodded. 'Quinn, why? Do you know her?'

Megan coughed. 'Why should I?'

I whistled. 'OK, just a thought. If you rather trust boys with electronics, you may ask Wayne Gilbert, better known as Firewire. He lives in Dillard Hall.'

Megan shrugged. 'Maybe ...'

She sighed with relief.

I wouldn't have thought her to trust in some boy, rather than in a girl. _Something was fishy, as Megan didn't trust boys in general. And Firewire could be such a nefarious creep, really ..._

Dustin bounded in.

I huggled the living hell out of him. Then I introduced him to Megan. 'Hi, this is your new step-brother.'

Dustin was timid. 'Hi!'

Megan shook Dustin's hand, albeit reluctantly. She sccrutinised my little brother.

Dustin was scared.

Megan nodded. 'OK, you're so not a boob. It was cool how you told Logan your opinion, upon that double date with the Baldwins. So, Sandy Baldwin is now your girlfriend? I know her monocygotic twin Katie from my old school[5:1] , by the way. Sandy should be very lucky.'

Dustin sobbed. 'Sandy has left California a few months ago. Now I'm all alone, again.'

Megan sighed. 'Sorry. Yeah, I heard about the Baldwins leaving, but I didn't know that Sandy had to leave her boarding school, too.'

Dustin nodded. 'But what is a boob?'

I chuckled. 'Boys that Megan can't stand.'

Megan grinned. 'More or less, yeah, by the way, I've got a few single friends, of the female sort, that is, maybe you could take a chance on one or the other among them?'

Dustin smiled. 'Cool! Thanks, you're great! I've got a few single male friends, just in case ...'

Megan chuckled. 'Sounds like a plot for a double date! But totaly not like the one where Logan got watered.'

I smiled. _Apparently, Dustin and Megan got along, and they helped each other to get over the new situation. Whether their double date project was going to be successful? Maybe, maybe not._ But I knew that I could leave them on their own, and look after my class-mates.

* * *

Strolling the campus, I encountered a few other new faces, such as some tall blond guy, whose name was going to turn out as James Garrett.

James had asked Michael and Logan about lunch and stuff.

The boys treated him arrogantly, and they refused to answer in any helpful manner.

I guessed that Logan envied James, because so many girls seemed to be interested in him.

And Michael just stuck up for his obnoxious mate, for no good reason.

_That was so mean!_ I offered to accompany James to Sushi Rox, the Japanese restaurant on our campus. 'You like Sushi?'

James beamed.

And off we were.

* * *

The next day, I found Chase.

He grinned. 'Congratulations!'

I wondered. 'Thanks, but what for?'

Chase smiled. 'For you and James, the new dream couple at this school!'

I choked. 'I have shown James around the campus. Does that make us a couple?'

Chase shrugged. 'Logan says so.'

My head was turning around..

I sighed. 'Logan said so?'_Logan says this and that, and Chase jumps. That had always been the case._ 'Forget it! How was the camping trip?'

Chase grinned. 'Gross ... Coco and Walter were so messy, and then the bear ... Michael screamed like a fury.'

I choked. 'A bear?'

Chase nodded. 'Fortunately, it was Logan in a bear's fur he had borrowed from dad's costume storage. He knew that Michael was going to freak out for that. And Coco was worse. Walter didn't even understand what was going on, and Quinn talked incessantly about the biological pecularities of the bears found in the Californian mountains. Lola hid under a blanket, even two days after Logan had fessed up.' Chase chuckled fanatically.

I shook my head. 'That was no fun!'

Chase shrugged. 'You're right, it wasn't.' He kept on laughing.

* * *

Logan's rumours about me and James had spread like wildfire.

Quinn and Lola, who had started out having a crush on James, were awfully jealous.

This prevented me from telling them about my visit in San Diego, and about Megan and Drake.

I had to come up with something to distract the misguided masses, given that I could not convince them. _Hey, how about spreading the rumour that Drake Parker was coming for a visit? Sure, it was unlikely that he was never going to visit Megan, although she hated him, but there should be a better reason. Hey , there was an idea._

The school still lacked a regular school band.

The attempts had been lame, so far.

The proms lacked any decent music, and this was my junior year, so I was most interested in a good band for the prom.

Drake would be a popular adviser for a Stingray band!

The stringray was the heraldic animal of the Pacific Coast Academy, whence we named us, or our teams, the stingrays.

Alas, in order to convince Dean Rivers of Drake's soft skills as an adviser, it appeared necessary to improve his sense for responsibility.

I didn't know how to do that, but, nevertheless, I took my cellular phone. 'Drake, this is Zoey ... No, I still don't want to flirt with you, so, get over with it, but I have got an idea. How about a regular job, here at the Pacific Coast Academy? ... No, not as a janitor, but as a band adviser ...'

Drake appeared very much interested, so we agreed on him visiting us , applying for the job at the office of Dean Rivers.

Josh was probably coming with him.

* * *

Megan wasn't exactly keen on Drake joining us, but she admitted that it was better him playing at the prom than any crap band.

I noticed that she was proud of Drake's entertaining abilities, although she was not ready to admit openly to that.

Whatever, Megan had got some more news for me. 'One of my roomies is Monica[5:2] .'

I shrugged cluelessly.

Megan sighed. 'I've told you about that bastard Corey, didn't I? The worthless creep that I have almost kissed, but he had cheated on me with another girl ... Monica!'

I sighed. 'Sorry for that.'

Megan shrugged. 'Monica is a nice girl, she doesn't deserve getting abused by someone like Corey, either. We have become friends, although I did not know that she is now going to this school.'

I smiled. 'That's good news!'

Megan agreed. 'Hey! You know that I've struck that deal with Dustin? About his single friends, and my single frieds?'

I nodded solemnly. 'Dustin and Monica?'

Megan smiled. 'Correct! Maybe we'll already have a double date within a few days, if one of Dustin's other friends agrees.'

I smiled. OK, I was overprotective of Dustin, but double dates were definitely better than one-to-one dates, as they don't tend to end up in dark, silent corners, or backseats of cars, or stuff like that. The two couples tended to watch over and control each other.

Megan also told me about her other roomie being some Ashley Blake[5:3].

I gasped. 'The famous Hollywood tweenie star?'

Megan nodded solemnly.

I told Megan that Ashley's big brother Vince had been expelled from this school, for cheating and bullying[5:4].

Megan shrugged. 'Ashley is a friend of mine, but I would not recommend her for Dustin. She's really arrogant.'

I nodded. _It was great that Megan thought so far. Yes, Ashley would probably have annoyed me to no end. She was worse than Trisha, maybe._

* * *

The idea with using Drake as a distraction was great.

Within a few hours, any rumour concerning James and me was destroyed.

Logan Reese was now more concerned about the competition Drake was likely to engender. 'But I'm still the hottest!'

I felt a bit like abusing Drake.

But the chance that Drake was facing should have been enough to compensate for this.

Alas, the turmoil and mayhem the rumours about Drake's visit were causing among the girls was incredible, and it was not likely for them to calm down when he was actually here.

Dean Rivers was not a fan of excessive excitement among his pupils.

For that reason, I feared that Drake's reputation as a reckless womaniser and a horrible rake was going to be a major stumbling block for a position as responsible as that of an adviser at my prep school. I had to do something about that. After thinking for a few minutes, I came to a conclusion.

* * *

I met Lola in my dorm. 'Hi! I need you for a favour.'

Lola smiled. 'Something to do with Orlando Bloom? Or Ashton Kutscher?' She swooned.

I chuckled, and then shook my head. 'Not quite, but some other girl eater: Drake Parker.'

Lola beamed. 'But isn't he your boyfriend, right now?' She looked disappointed. 'Or how did you get him that easily to try out for a job at this school?'

I shook my head, lauging. 'He isn't, and he will never be. You know, my dad is about divorcing and remarrying, and Drake Parker happens to be the son of his new wife, hence my step-brother.'

Lola shrugged. 'OK!'

I nodded. 'Good. Thing is, he is such a reckless rake...'

Lola smiled. 'Good!'

I shook my head. 'Dean Rivers will never employ a young man who is likely to seduce half of the girls on the campus.'

Lola sighed deeply.

I coughed. 'Ok, and here's the point: If Drake can resist flirting with you, one of the hottest girls of the school — according to Quinn's latest polls — this will convince Dean Rivers that he has got the ability to refrain from seducing random girls. It's crucial for getting him seriously employed.'

Lola sighed. 'OK, if you say so.' She sounded disappointed, but she understood that it was going to be for a good purpose.

We hugged.

I was now looking forward to Drake's and Josh's visit.

* * *

**Chapter 6 Drake And Lola**

* * *

Drake and Josh showed up after lunch. They dragged some suitcase with further belongings for Megan around.

Megan grinned. 'Awwwww... boobs are still good as carrier slaves!'

Dustin agreed.

I wondered who were Megan's and Dustin's double-dates for the upcoming weekend.

Megan lifted the grey veil: 'Dustin will be with Janie, my best friend for over a year...'

I had already seen her briefly, hence I nodded solemnly.

'And Dustin has chosen his former roomie Jack[6:1] for me,' explained Megan.

Of course I knew Jack. I had stumbled across him one of the first days I arrived at PCA, for he had been hanging out a lot with Dustin.

Jack had already witnessed Dustin's catastrophal affair with that loose girl named Trisha Kirby. He had even been one of the boys who denounced this abomination unto me.

Even if Dustin and Jack were no longer seen together that often, probably since Robbie Carmichael became his roomie, I knew that Jack wouldn't be one to worry about as Megan's date.

Drake was curious when he heard about Megan having a date in a few days. But he was calmed down easily by my remarks, understanding that Jack was nowhere near like that obnoxious Corey guy who had shamelessly cheated on Megan.

Maybe I would have liked watching Dustin and Megan from the bushes when they were bound for their double dates, but I had a lot of other things to worry about.

Drake was looking forward to convincing Dean Rivers of his abilities as a guitarist.

I had sent the younger kids away in order to talk some serious words to Drake. 'Being the leader of a renowned school's band does not only mean playing the guitar well!'

'I know,' replied Drake, 'I may also sing quite well.'

My head would almost have burst from laughing.

But the situation was really serious.

I sighed. 'The main point is responsibility and being a good example for the pupils,' emphasised I in front of Drake.

Josh was mightily impressed by my syssiphus-like efforts in trying to educate Drake into being somewhat less of a jerk.

Drake did not understand what I was talking about.

Josh tried to make it any clearer to Drake, but without any avail.

I did not lose my patience. 'OK, Drake, the problem is: You like to make out with random girls, right?'

Josh nodded vigorously.

Drake beamed. 'Sure! That's my second greatest gift, barring playing the guitar of course. Will making out with girls be part of my job, do? I'm all in it!' He beamed like a supernova.

I coughed. 'Drake, listen, it will not be part of your job, quite the contrary. This is a coed school, and the parents of the female students expect that their daughters here are somewhat safe. And you would be a bad example for the male students if...'

Drake objected, 'hi! They could learn a lot from me about digging girls. Do you want me to show?'

I grunted noisily, but I still maintained my albeit thoroughly stressed and strained patience. 'They might, and that's the problem. Dean Rivers does not want you to do so.'

Drake shrugged. 'He envies me...'

I was not goinbg to defend our headmaster, as he was stuck in the middle of a tough marriage with a psychopathic wife named Tippers. 'Maybe, but the rules of the school don't allow for what you would like to teach the boys here.'

Drake was utterly confused.

I breathed heavily. 'You have to convince Dean Rivers into seeing that you are not a moral danger for the girls or the boys.'

Drake shrugged helplessly.

Then I explained my plan.

Josh grinned. 'That sounds like a genius plan! But who is the example of Drake's virtues?'

I picked my cellular phone, typing Lola's number. 'Her name is Lola Martinez she's a wannabe Hollywood star, she was already in a few promos, but not yet...'

Josh twitched. 'Hey, she was at _Première Theater_ for a première party.'

I had not known that. 'Hi Lola, Drake is here, same room as agreed on. Come here!'

Drake had not yet seen Lola, or, rather, he had seen her in short scenes without knowing who he is.

Josh guessed that it was going to be a tough task for Drake.

A few minutes later, the door went open.

Lola walked in.

Josh reminded Drake, 'remember, do not flirt with her!'

Drake nodded, but he saw immediately that it was easier for an elephant to jump through a burning hoop. His eyes bugged out, as Lola was even a trifle more gorgeous than he had suspected from the videos.

Lola greeted Drake, 'hi!'

Drake felt melting away. 'Hi Lola, I...' He blushed, and he had a hard time staying calm.

Lola grinned. She gave Drake an apple. _The ultimate test for good kissers!_ [6:2]

I had not agreed on that test with Lola. _Was she going too far too early?_

Drake, still struggling with his urges, went through a dozen of different shades. He bit the apple.

Lola was now convinced that Drake was the best kisser — ever, better than Lafe.

Drake and Lola were really struggling in order to stay away from each other.

Josh and I, we had to talk them into staying strong.

Twitching Josh could not stand the tension, and he walked out on us.

There were only twenty minutes left before we had to go to Dean Rivers.

I had to remember over and over again the seriosity of the situation unto Lola, but she was way too weak to hold on forever. I needed to grab her blouse in order to prevent her from moving towards Drake.

Then the moment of truth had come.

* * *

Beverly, the secretary of the _Pacific Coast Academy_, let us into the office of Dean Rivers.

Our headmaster was playing mini-snooker.[6:3] Apparently, he was not really in a good mood.

It was not obvious whether his mood was the result of performing poorly in the desktop billiard game, or whether he used said game in order to rlease some his anger which had different causes.

Whatever the reason, the mood of the headmaster was not going to make it much easier for Drake to land the envisioned job.

I knew that I had to be very careful.

Dean Rivers noticed us. 'Don't you see that I'm busy?'

I shrugged. 'We are appointed, right now...'

Dean Rivers looked nevertheless at Beverly in an apparently quite dismayed manner. _How could she let in pupils when he was playing a match of mini-pool with himself?_

I remained patient. 'Sir, this is Drake Parker, the young man who has applied for the position of an adviser for the school band.'

Dean Rivers nodded and sighed grudgingly. 'Beverly, the folder!'

His voice was totally impolite, and it made me wonder how Beverly was able to bear the dean.

Then he went through the mentioned folder. 'OK, Drake Parker, born yes, sex yes, please! ...'

Josh poked Drake's ribs. 'I told you to let me fill in the questionary for you.'

Drake beamed, clueless as of what bad things he had done.

Apparently, the grave mistakes in the application did not provide any reason for the headmaster's mood to improve.

I was fainting, because Drake has messed thoise little things badly. _Was there even as much as a snowflake's chance in a blast furnace left?_

Dean Rivers boomed stuff about wasting his time, and the seriosity of this school and its staff...

'A serious headmaster would not play desktop pool during official appointments,' dared I to reply.

Dean Rivers glared aghast.

Apparently, my remark had been in order.

Dean Rivers was going through the rest of Drake's application. 'OK, your references sound fine, but I've heard rumours about your public demeanour...'

Alas, exactly in this moment, the worst scenario happened: Lola and Drake could not keep themselves back any longer, and they made out for a second.

Josh was consternated, and he twitched like an idiot.

I was no less consternated.

Dean Rivers plastered a diabolic grimace.

It was all over, my confidence was shattered for good.

In addition, Dean Rivers was hardly going to follow any of my suggestions anymore.

Lola reacted fast. 'It's OK, we are engaged.'

I looked aghast. _That was impossible! Of course Lola was acting. She's great at acting spontaneously, that's why she's hoping for an Oscar as long as she was still a teenager..._

Dean Rivers coughed. 'OK, that's something completely different. Welcome to _PCA_, the job is yours... but why don't you wear rings?'

Lola and Drake looked puzzled.

I intervened. 'It's because of the paparazzi. You don't want to have them here on the campus, do you?'

Dean Rivers had to agree wholeheartedly. 'Hell no, we are not a Hollywood studio.'

* * *

Back to my room...

I was alone with Lola. 'Are you aware of what you've done? If it turns out that it was a lie...'

Lola moaned. 'But he's sooooo...'

I gasped. _Of course Lola thought like this, and I would not have minded. But was Drake really a happy-ever-after sort of guy? I hoped so for Lola, but he has not yet done anything in order to suggest this possibility, quite to the contrary. Megan had already told me stories..._

Lola pouted because I did not rejoice with her.

I would have loved to, but if the fraud ever turned out, I was ruined for good.

* * *

The next Sunday, Josh visited my in 'building101 Brenner. 'Hi, Zoey!'

I sighed, 'Oh, Josh, what's up?'

Josh moaned, 'I'll be very busy with college stuff. I want to go Caltech and so on...'

I nodded. 'You'll make it there, I'm sure.'

Josh smiled. 'I've seen that you've never lost the patience with Drake, and you drove a hard bargain and so on,... don't you want to take over the rôle as his manager?'

I was a bit surprised. 'Really? I have never done anything like that!'

Josh had not had any prior experience, either. 'I know that you would be a very good manager...'

I sighed. 'OK, I give it a try, but that's because you are really busy...'

Josh nodded. 'And my fiancé Mindy ran away...'

I comforted Josh. 'Talking about fiancés... what do you think about Drake and Lola?'

Josh sighed. 'Drake had never been able to keep the same girl for more than three weeks...'

I had heard so. 'My reputation here depends on them...'

Josh nodded sadly. 'At least, Josh promised to give his best. he really likes Lola, there's no doubt about it, but that doesn't warrant much.'

I nodded solemnly.

Josh wondered about somne scattered test tubes. 'Are you performing chemical experiments?'

I shook my head, uttering a resounding 'No!'. I giggled. 'My room-mate Quinn Pensky is responsible for them.'

Josh shrugged. 'OK...'

Megan bounded in. 'Hi Zoey...' She noticed Josh. 'Hi bigheaded boob!'

Josh twitched with disgust.

I greeted Megan back. 'How was your double-date?'

Megan moaned, 'nice, but...' She didn't look glad.

I was disappointed, as I had hoped for a better outcome for Dustin than just _nice_.

Megan explained, 'we had Japanese candy in _Sushi Rox_... Kazu has got the best...'

I smiled. 'Good for you...'

Megan nodded. 'OK, the afternoon was a lot of fun, but, finally, Janie and Jack told us that they were going to continue the dates, but... with each other, only the two of them, not with me and Dustin...'

I sighed. 'Oh my Lord! What a double-date!' It was funny, but I felt so sad for Dustin.

Josh twitched.

Then Megan talked about Drake and his "fiancé". 'She's certainly in his league, so there's nothing bad, but I still can't believe that Drake can be serious. He says that he is, but he said that too many times before to be believable.'

I nodded.

Megan was determined to remind Drake every time that he was going to miss out on a great chance, should he dare to drop Lola for other girls. 'He will feel my pranks for the next seven generations...'

I giggled. _It was going to be hard, but not impossible..._

* * *

**Chapter 7 Saving Quinn**

* * *

My room-mate Quinn had had that boyfriend of three years named Mark Del Figgalo.

Alas, their relationship seemed to have run into some deep crisis.

Without a trace of a reason, Mark had asked Quinn for giving their relationship sort of a break.

Quinn did not understand why, but she had accepted it, anyways, until she figured what had been going on:

Mark del Figgalo had found a new girlfriend named Brooke Margolin.[7:1]

Quinn was terribly annoyed.

I had tried to suggest Quinn to give it a rest.

The real Quinn was way too smart to just hold or get a boyfriend at any cost.

Alas, my attempts of talking any reason into Quinn appeared futile.

Quinn could be so irrational at times.

That was incredible for a science girl.

Well, I guess that Lola's mental shallowness and superficial demeanour had infected Quinn to some degree.

That was sad, very very sad!

* * *

I met Megan after lunch.

She was already in a hurry. 'Soccer practice...'

I nodded. _Was that really the only thing that put her under pressure?_

Megan waved, and gone she was.

Then I saw the reason.

Quinn showed up.

I had been observing how much Megan had been avoiding Quinn.

So, Megan being the same as Paige Howard would have made perfect sense.

* * *

After supepr, I made it into Megan's dormitory.

She was talking to Monica.

Megan grinned. 'Finally, Monica will be in a double date with Dustin.'

That was not my reason to make it there.

'That's good for Dustin.' I smiled. 'Whom has he chosen for you?'

'Some Henry,' replied Megan nervously.

Henry[7:2] had been a frioend of Dustin for three years. He had been adamantly opposed to his date with obnoxious girl Trisha, for he knew that she was too loose for Dustin, and totally evil and dangerous. He was certainly not a bad thing for Megan.

Monica waved. She felt that I had to mince some serious words with Megan.

I excused Monica.

Megan trembled.

I sighed. 'Sorry, but this thing between Quinn and you... it can't go on like that.'

Megan sighed, totally embarrassed.

I asked straightforward, 'are you Paige Howard?'

Megan almost passed out, stammering 'I was...'

Of course, I expected some explanation.

Megan moaned. 'Sorry, I didn't want to blow up the school. I also didn't want to cause embarrassment for Quinn... I don't know science well and didn't know what I was talking...'

Of course it was not my task to judge Megan's abilities as a scientist.

But wasn't it strange how Megan had been able to fool Quinn, Mr. Beringer — our teacher for physics — and the vistors from Caltech who praised her?

Megan explained, 'I had a micro chip in my ears...'

I understood that someone must have instructed Megan from afar.

Those who had instructed Megan were probably the real culprits.

'So, who used you?' asked I with grim determination.

Megan squealed. She did not want to answer.

I shrugged. 'OK, I have to talk to Drake and Josh about that.'

Megan screamed in agony. 'No, not them!'

Now I remembered Megan's familiarity with Wayne Gilbert aka Firewire. _Who was more interested in embarrassing Quinn than Firewire?_ I mentioned him.

Megan went totally pale.

I sighed. 'We're not done!'

Megan hid herself under a blanket.

I walked away. _Firewire was now so due!_

* * *

Along with Lola, I caught Firewire in his dormitory room.

Wayne Gilbert played with action figures and some web cams. 'What are you looking for? You disturb my web action movie about _Galaxy Wars_!'

Lolatook one of the action figures and started gnawing at it.

Wayne squealed, 'noooo!'

I told Lola to stop it. 'I know, Lola is a bit insane, but I can't vouvh for anything.'

Wayne wanted me to get that perverse fury out of his room.

I sighed. 'OK, I have got a few questions concerning the visit of Paige Howard.'

Firewire went pale.

I so knew that he was the culprit. I tickled Lola secretly.

She took a web cam and started pulling at the wires.

'That's my new Japanes J-cam,' squealed Wayne with disgust.

I grunted, 'Lola, be more careful!'

Wayne's teeth shattered like a full cupboard during an earthquake.

'You've ordered Megan Parker to feign being a science Geek girl...' thundered I, 'admit to that!'

Firewired nodded with terror.

Lola looked at another action figure, 'yummy!'

I sighed. 'Enough for today!'

Lola needed to wash her mouth now.

We were on the way out.

Firewire bellowed, 'I was not alone...'

I turned around. 'So, who was your henchman?'

'Some Mindy Crenshaw,...' admitted he.

I gasped. _The ex-girlfriend of Joshuah Nichols?_

So, Mindy and Firewire had ganged up in order to get back at Quinn and Josh.

That made perfect sense.

Now we were gone.

Quinn was down as she was.

Thius I did not want to stir up the whole thing with Paige Howard.

It would have hurt her even more.

And it would have hurt me to know that I actually knew Mindy.

But I did not know that back then.

* * *

I snuck back into Megan's dorm.

She was still all pale, and she started weeping.

According to Drake, this was totally unusual for her.

I tried to get her back onto her feet. 'Quinn won't blow your head off. I won't allow her to.'

Megan glared aghast.

I knew that there was something more.

Megan sobbed and stammered, 'Quinn is now in even more danger...'

I wondered what she was stammering. I sat her up. 'OK, what's going on?'

Megan whispered, 'last night, I've been home early, and I noticed Ashley calling that Logan jerk on her phone...'

I coughed. 'You've been spying Ashley's phone call?'

Megan moaned.

Alas, Logan and Ashley exchanging phone calls was probably not unusual.

Malcolm's dad was a Hollywood producer.

She may simply have asked for informations about new projects.

Megan reported, 'Ashley said something about Quinn's current instability. She will be an easy prey for Logan's fake charm.'

I gasped. _So, Logan was going to try to hit on Quinn? For what reason?_

* * *

That information was important enough to get proferred unto Quinn.

I guided Megan into _101 Brenner Hall_.

Lola and Quinn were already there.

Lola was reading her favourite journal, the _Buzz_. 'Purple lip gloss and pink sun glasses? There's an idea...'

Quinn had replaced her nerdy spectacles with contact glasses.

The braidlets in her hair were gone.

Apparently, she either tried to reconquer Mark or get new boys this way.

Megan waved at Quinn. 'Hi!'

Quinn lokked up. 'Paige?'

Megan sighed. 'You know me as Paige, but ...'

I introduced Megan to Quinn.

Quinn looked aghast.

Then we talked about Ashley's conversation with Logan.

Quinn wondered, 'why would Logan want me?'

I shrugged. 'Who knows? He's a jerk anyways.'

Quinn sighed. 'He is...' Now she was warned.

But Megan promised to be on guard. She saw her chance of repairing the damage she had caused unto Quinn by assuming the fake identity of Paige Howard.

* * *

Megan and I crossed the campus, watching out for Logan and his knavish tricks.

Michael crossed the campus.

'A horse,' squealed Megan.

I was flabbergasted.

There was really a horse following Michael around.

Megan stepped up to the horse. 'He's so cute!' She smiled. 'When I was smaller, I wanted a pony., I believed in ponies laying eggs.[7:3]' She giggled.

Michael sighed. 'Probably, but he follows me everywhere... including the shower cabins.'

I giggled.

But it wasn't much fun for Michael.

Megan examined the horse's back. 'A mark!'

Michael and I looked carefully.

The stallion bore the marks of its owner.

All we needed to do was looking through a list of registered marks.

There was one on the interweb, wasn't there?

Megan smiled. 'Oh, I know the mark!'

We turned our faces with curiosity.

Megan explained, 'I had once ordered a zebra via interweb.[7:4]'

'A zebra.' replied I with consternation. But I should have expected that after having heard some stories about Megan from Drake.

Megan nodded. 'I could not keep it at home, so I looked for a suitable ranch, and I found that of the Dunnaway family, not far from here. I've seen the marks on their horses, the same as this one.'

Michael screamed, 'Cool!'

Megan still had the phone number of the Dunnaways, because she visited her zebra regularly. She typed a few digits.

I was standing still.

Michael sighed.

Megan was finally done. 'His name is _Winchester_,' said she, 'he escaped from the meadows, a few days ago. They have already been looking everywhere.'

I sighed with relief.

Megan told me that Mrs. Dunnaway was going to fetch Winchester the very next day.

Just one more day for Michael.

Megan helped him, as she had made good experiences with horse-like animals.

* * *

Winchester was gone.

But the most studdy stallion of the _Pacific Coast Academy_ was still roaming the campus, i.e. Logan Reese!

Quinn had sat down somewhere.

Logan snuck up to her, apparently feigning understanding for her situation.

I watched from afar.

When Logan moved too close to her, I stepped up to them. 'Oops...'

Logan looked with disgust. 'Zoey? What are you doing here?'

I grunted, 'what are you doing here?'

Logan glared. 'I comforted Quinn, because...'

Quinn gasped.

I giggled. 'OK, you've successfully comforted her, and now you may report back to Ashley.'

Logan glared with dismay. 'Ashley Blake? What the...'

I glared with grim determination. 'So, what was your deal?'

Logan trembled. He tried to escape.

But Quinn tripped him up. 'Logan Reese!'

Logan sighed. 'Yes, I have got a deal with Ashley... she has taught me acting in a humane manner, in turn for getting her a rôle in dad's next movie.'

At that point, I did not get to know that their deal was running a lot deeper.

Their relationship had started much earlier, and it was by no means over.

'But why Quinn?' wondered I.

Logan sighed. 'You know that my grandpa was a teacher at _Caltech_.[7:5] Dad wants this family tradition to be continued, grandad has left a large scientific library, so I get part of my heritage assigned prematurely if...'

'You've abused me for money,' concluded Quinn. 'I'm so done with you!'

'Quinn...' stammered Logan.

But it was too late.

Quinn was up and away.

I shrugged helplessly.

* * *

I met Megan again, telling her about the encounter with Logan.

'You mean that Dr. Reese,' replied Megan, who is Josh's favourite example to live up to, next to Einstein?

I did not know that.

Megan explained. 'Josh has even made me read his book about advanced molecular theory.[7:6]'

I remarked, 'Einstein is also Quinn's example to live up to.'

Megan smiled. 'Sure, maybe he could talk to Quinn, and they get out of their depression?'

I scratched my nose. 'Why not?' I high-fived with Megan.

* * *

The plan worked out nicely.

Quinn and Josh were soon going to be hardly separable. They read many scientific books together which no sane pupil could understand.

Megan grinned.

Unfortunately, her carefully planned double-date had been less of a success than that improvised encounter of Josh and Quinn.

Just as Janie and Jack had disappeared together, so did Henry and Monica.

Dustin was once again very sad, as Monica had been totally likable.

Megan sighed deeply. 'I'm not going to give up. I've got more friends... not Ashley, of course.'

I smiled. _Dustin would sure get his chance._

But Quinn was saved.

And for the time being, this appeared most important.

Alas, there was one more annoying discovery left.

Josh showed us a picture of Mindy.

She was no other than a girl that had once plagiarised my design of a backpack.[7:7] She must have enrolled here using a fake name after getting suspended from Drake's school for fraud. [7:8]

Quinn suspected that Mindy had been trying to spy after her secret formulae. 'She will hardly give up that fast.'

I feared that this was true.

In any case, Quinn forgave Megan.

I sighed with relief.

* * *

**Chapter 8 Per Mile**

* * *

A week later, I entered the lounge of the boys.

Josh had won a match of snooker against Logan.

The jerk shrugged. 'Beginner's luck!'

Alas, I knew this to be wrong.

Drake had told me that Josh was once known as the pool shark of San Diego.[8:1]

Alas, Michael thought himself to be the best. He placed various items onto the snooker table. Then he explained how he expected the balls and the obstacles to interact after his cue strike.

Logan and Chase laughed like mercilessly tickled hyenas.

Michael pouted. 'You don't believe me?'

Logan replied, 'I'd rather believe you fly to the moon in your boxers and wearing a pair of Stacey's cotton swab wings.'

Chase nodded solemnly.

Stacey Dillsen was a freaky girl at our school who talked with a lisp and who was obsessed with making sculptures from cotton swabs. She was avoided by most pupils. Fortunately, she was not here in the lounge.

Quinn and Lola were missing, too.

Quinn was a passionate snooker player.

But Lola was about trying to knit a new top for Quinn. She needed to fit the shirt.

Michael squealed. 'I'm going to show you!'

'Dream on,' replied Logan.

Megan walked in. 'What are the boobs doing?'

I explained the situation.

Megan grinned. 'Cool!'

Michael offered a bet. 'If I win, you will let me play with my clack-clack balls whenever I want to, in our dorm, that is.' Michael was totally addicted to clackers, the most noisy of all toys ever invented.

Chase and Logan chuckled.

'OK,' replied Logan. 'If you lose, you will cross the campus in a chicken wing costume.'

I wanted to object. 'You can't do that, Lola is allergic to meeting people in those costumes.'[8:2]

Logan grinned.

Michael and Logan shook hands.

The bet was now official.

Michael picked his cue. 'OK, there comes Mr. Snooker!'

I shook my head.

Megan glared strangely at the pool table.

The cue struck the white ball.

As if being dragged by an invisible cord, the white ball did exactly what Michael had predicted it to do.

Logan and Chase had lost their bet.

This was a bit scary.

I looked at Megan. _Did she practice telekinetic powers?_

Suddenly, a scream was heard behind my back. It sounded so much like Lola's.

I startled.

Lola's scream could have been an exercise for some upcoming audition, or it could have had a real reason.

I turned around.

Lola stood there, wrapped in a net of wool. She floundered and fumbled with her knitting needles.

Quinn followed Lola. 'She has caught herself in her own woolen chaos...'

Lola panted and cursed, 'why does this gog-blasted knitting have to be so complicated!'

'Why don't you go to knitting classes,' asked I.

Lola glared aghast.'Zoey, how dare you! The boys in knitting classes are as ugly as beasts, such as Dork del Dweebalo.' She felt forced to empty her stomach in one swipe.

Too da the woolen chaos prevented the vomit from getting too far.

Megan giggled.

Lola was covered with some self-made stink.

Drake was disgusted, but he helped Lola freeing herself from her malodorous prison.

Quinn ran away in order to fetch her silent deodoriser, another quinnvention.

I had to announce something. 'Listen, the next charity walkathon will be next wee. I want to run with Dustin. You may sponsor us with a certain amount.'

Megan sighed. 'Zoey, I would rather run with you than with Drake.'

I shrugged. 'Drake, would you please run with Dustin?'

Drake glared. 'That's too much work.'

I sighed. 'OK, it's a charity walkathon. You may improve your public relations a lot by participating. _The rock star with a golden heart._'

Drake beamed. 'OK, I'm in it!' He was also glad to be Dustin's partner, because the latter was not as much of a whipper as Megan.

Lola smiled. She was now almost free, and she smelled a lot better. 'I'm going to sponsor Dustin and my sweetbubbles. Thirty bucks!'

Drake swooned. 'Awwww!'

I nodded. 'That's cool!'

Chase begged Lola into knitting him woolen earcuffs.

Logan seconded that. 'Michael will torture us with his clackers.'

Chase sighed.

* * *

Morning had broken.

This was the day of the great charity walkathon.

Megan was a soccer player, so I hoped for at least twenty miles.

Dustin and Draked had worked hard, too. They wanted to show that boys were not as lame as Megan thought.

Lola and Drake had done a lot of stretching and yoga exercises.

Drake was thus at least very flexible.

Dean Rivers started the race, swinging a plaid flag.

Megan went into the leading position.

Our main sponsor was Chase. He invested one solid buck per mile. Apparently, he hadn't saved as much money as famous Hollywood starlet Lola.

Stacey offered one cotton swab per mile.

Mark del Figgalo broke down after half a mile, and he needed to be taken to _St. Illness_[8:3] hospital.

The red hot sun burnt up the coastal hill braes.

Drops of billowing sweat kept on eating their way down our skin.

* * *

After twenty miles, my feet started burning like living hellfire.

Megan was already panting heavily.

We decided calling it a nice race.

Not many pupils were still on the race track.

We had especially believed Drake to have given up long ago. We were on our way to the girls' toilets.

Suddenly, Drake thundered past us.

Megan was consternated. 'How was he doing that?'

Dustin followed in Drake's leeward region. 'Frazz[8:4],' answered he, grinning like crazy.

Megan shrugged without a trace of an idea. 'What is a frazz?'

I had to rummage through my memories. 'Oh yeah, that must be it...'

Megan listened with curiosity.

I explained, '_Frazz_ is _the name of some power drink invented by Quinn. That was two years ago._'

'Not fair,' replied Megan. She was struck with disappointment.

I calmed her down. 'It's not really a competition between us and the boys, but a wellfare event. You don't have to envy Drake for this. All they get will be a handshake from some office tooter.'

Megan sighed deeply.

I hugged Megan. 'Everyone knows that in a real competitions, boys could not hold a candle to us girls.'

Megan panted with relief.

Fifteen miles later...

Drake and Dustin blew a final gust of steam through their orifices. Then they stretched themselves gracelessly onto the pavement.

I grabbed Dustin. 'Are you OK?'

Dustin nodded silently, and he fell fast asleep.

I could not help but dragging him back to his dormitory room.

Scooter helped me dealing with my sleepy brother.

Megan had to call for Josh's help in order to deal with Drake.

The stakes having been meant per mile, I calculated swiftly that Lola owed now approximately 1,000 bucks to the charity group.

Well, she must have earnt a lot by means of acting.

* * *

**(**

)

I woke up in y dorm.

Lola had been trying to knit something all night through.

The room was now one woolen chaos.

I had slept a whole night through. But when I woke up, I had to talk to Lola. 'OK, Drake and Dustin made 35 miles, your stakes were 30 bucks per mile, that is...'

'per ... mile,' stammered Lola,

I nodded solemnly.

Lola went pale.

Her teeth rattled like a snake's tail.

'Lola,' replied I, 'what's up?'

She had understood 30 bucks as her stakes for the whole distance, and not per mile.

I coughed. 'You did not read the smallprint, did you?'

Lola shrugged. 'I hate reading smallprints. Your eyes turn ugly from doing so.'

I banged my head against the wall. 'At least you're lucky enough to have some money...'

Lola stammered, 'er... honestly...'

I wondered what was wrong.

Lola sighed deeply. 'Most of my money goes to some account I can't get at without my dad's consent. Those are savings for my future.'

I choked. 'Erm...'

Lola concluded, 'and the rest I've already spent on beauty articles.'

I sighed. 'Why had I not thought about that earier?'

The result: Lola had nore more than thirty bucks in her hands, and she was unable to get at the required amount within a few days, and without begging her parents.

Needless to say, most parents would be very upset if their teenage daughter requested touching those savings.

In other words: We had got a big problem!

* * *

Back to the boys' lounge.

Logan celebrated Drake. 'Finally, someone showed the girls who are the lords of the world!'

Drake smiled. 'Yeah!'

Logan sighed. 'But my ears hurt... Michael tormented me all night long.'

Michael shook his head.

Chase nodded solemnly. 'Oh, Zoey, here are your twenty bucks...'

I shook my head. 'The money goes straight to Carmine Puckkett[8:5] from _Pacific Charity Association_.'

Lola walked in.

Her head was hanging almost between her knees.

'Honeybunny,' asked Draked, 'what's going on?'

Lola sighed bitterly when she told Drake about her debts.

Drake coughed. He had not read the smallprint, either. 'Dern!' He screamed with agony. _Was Lola ever going to forgive him?_

Megan came along. She wanted to know why Lola was so depressed. 'Her knitting prowess has improved a bit, so...'

Drake explained the situation unto Megan. 'So... what about the cheque over thousands of bucks that Doheny has given unto you?'[8:6]

I shrugged. 'Doheny? The master illusionist?'

Megan nodded. 'I've helped him a bit... but the cheque was fake. He just wanted to tease Drake and Josh. That was my idea...'

Drake went pale.

Megan continued, 'alas, if it had been for real, I'm still too young to care for such a sum. Mom would have put it into some insurance, and stuff.'

I understood that concern. I knew that Megan had somehow helped Doheny to recover from his depression. _But what had she done? Something similar to conrtrolling Michael's snooker ball? Was she a telekinetic artist? Megaang, the last airbender?_[_8:7_]_. Scary..._

* * *

Next morning...

Less than a day was left for us to pay for Lola, or else...

Carmine looked really mean.

I stood in front of Dustin's dormitory room.

Upon hearing about Lola's misery, my brother had locked himself into his dorm, weeping piteously.

Even Scooter had fled. He was now living with James Garrett in some dark janitor's cell.

Dustin's weeping and whimpering voice thundered across his dormitory block.

I begged him to open.

Alas, he could hardly forgive himself.

Megan came along. She panted, moaning 'it seems you still can't get him out of there?'

I shook my head.

Megan continued, 'I've got some idea... Helen Baxter might loan us some bucks.'

I scratched my chin. 'The woman from _Premi'ere Theater_?'

Megan nodded. 'She's rich... and she has fished Drake fished more than one pool of dung.'

I shuddered. 'OK, I hope it helps. Better than calling Oprah Winfrey, as suggested by Josh Nichols.'

Megan chuckled.

Suddenly, an obnoxious blonde passed by, grinning idiotically.

I startled. 'Trisha?' I introduced Trisha Kirby to Megan.

Trisha laughed satanically. 'OK, Carmine from _Pacific Charity Association_ is my uncle. I may dissuade him from murdering Lola, in turn for...'

I was dismayed. _In turn for what? It could not be any good._

Trisha grinned. '... in turn for Dustin, of course... not just one kiss, more like a steady boyfriend, for always and ever...'

I choked. 'That was so disgusting.'

Megan lunged forward, grabbing Trisha's shirt. 'You don't dare to, you cheap bitch! You'll rue the day if you don't get your dirty fingers off Dustin...'

Trisha turned around and ran away.

Alas, this was not going to render her uncle any more merciful...

* * *

Helen Baxter had actually showed up.

We were now in Carmine's office.

As I had feared, Carmine was now particularly angry.

Helen was — fortunately — a good rhetorician. She was able to talk Carmine shut. She also threatened to inform the authorities because most of te pupils did not have their parents' permit for that action.

Carmine ran away with his tail between his leg, after he had promised to teach Lola knitting.

She was allowed to pay her share by knitting clothes for hobo kids.

Helen paid 1000 bucks.

But was going to return them upon completion of the woolen clothes.

I wiped a lot of sweat off my face.

Megan wondered, 'A nice double date would help Dustin, wouldn't it?'

I smiled. 'I guess so...'

* * *

**Chapter 9 The Return Of Vince**

* * *

The following week, I was sitting peacefully in my lounge.

The lounge was pretty much jammed.

But Megan snuck in.

Don't ask me how she snuck past everything and everyone

She just did. And she looked totally excited.

I wondered what was up.

Megan panted. 'Ashley talks all day and all night about her brother's return. His expulsion was totally unfair, and stuff.'

Ashley apparently thought of revenge.

I gasped. 'Vince is coming back? Is Dean Rivers serious?'

Megan shrugged.

I went through the history.

Chase had caught Vince cheating in a test about national history. He had denounced him to Mr. Toplin, his teacher.

Vince had been suspended from all activities. He was the captain of our football team, thus he had to miss out on that match.

Too bad it was a very important match.

Vince and his pals were upset enough to beat Chase black and blue.

Thereupon he was completely expelled from the school.

Returning to _Pacific Coast Academy_, he was probably up to getting back at Chase.

I could not allow for that.

Megan had another reason to talk to me. 'Would you mind an older girlfriend for Dustin? For a double date...'

I gasped. 'It's not Trisha Kirby, is it? And her name isn't Rebecca, either, right?'

Megan shook her head. 'Never! Who is Rebecca?'

I told Megan about Chase's former girlfriend who had been so mean to me.

Megan sighed. 'Sorry for that. I wouldn't want Dustin to date any girl of that sort, honestly.'

I panted. 'If she can accept that younger boys can't do what most older girls would expect from boys, it's OK.'

Megan nodded. 'Addie[9:1] is nowhere near like Trisha or Rebecca.'

I sighed with relief.

Megan explained a bit more, 'she used to be my best friend like three years ago. But she lived in Pennsylvania, and she only was here in California in order to visit her cousins. But she has actually switched to _Pacific Coast Academy_ as of last year. I haven't known it earlier. She's a sophomore. You don't have to worry. She's nice and definitely not a nymphomaniac fury.'

I nodded. 'Yeah, that sounds good.' _In a double date it was less dangerous, anyways._ I wondered about Dustin's pick for Megan. _Maybe someone older, too? Dustin has learnt to tell a jerk from a decent boy, so he wasn't going to pick someone really foul and disgusting for Megan._ I could rely on Dustin when it came down to that.

* * *

I complained in the office of Dean Rivers.

The headmaster grunted, 'the shrinks, his parents, and everyone else have confirmed that Vince Blake is no longer aggressive, and thus no longer a danger for our school and our students. Thus there's no reason for upkeeping the ban.'

I was consternated. 'Have a nice day!'

My sweat watered the ground.

I needed to warn Chase.

* * *

Chase and Michael were sitting in their lounge.

I walked up to them.'Bad news!'

Michael and Chase looked flabbergasted.

I talked about Vince.

Michael was deeply concert. 'That's insane! Vince is a serial killer.'

I nodded sadly.

Chase sighed. 'It isn't that bad. My cousin Corey from Phoenix has joined recently. He is killed in karate and will defend me.[9:2]'

I sighed with relief.

But then...

I choked. _Corey? Megan's perverse ex-boyfriend was also named Corey, and he was a hell of a martial fighter._

That was no good...

* * *

It was the last weekend trip home to San Diego before Vincent Blake's return.

He wa sproperly expected back on Saturday.

But I was already in my car, waiting for Dustin and his pick for the double date.

Drake was going to take Megan and Addie to San Diego.

Chase passed by. 'Hi!'

I admonished him to be careful with Vince.

Chase shrugged. 'I don't have to until Sunday evening.'

I looked aghast. 'You're leaving the campus over the weekend?'

Chase grinned. 'That's true!' Then he jumped into my car.

I was consternated. 'What are you doing?.'

Dustin approached with his luggage. 'OK, I don't have much, so...'

I let Dustin board the car. 'Chase?'

Chase grinned. 'Dustin picked me for a double date, with your new step-sister... what was her name?'

I gasped. 'Megan?'

Chase grinned. 'That's her!'

Dustin nodded solemnly. 'Megan chose an older girl for me, so I chose an older boy for her.'

I started the engine. I still couldn't trust my ears.

'As per Dustin, Drake is away for a concert on Saturday night, so ...'

I knew about Drake's plan, as I was his manager.

Don't get me wrong!

I was way over Chase. In addition, I could not say that Chase was a bad company for Megan.

Definitely not!

It was, nevertheless, something in need of getting accustomed to.

I needed to concentrate on driving, though.

Chase fumbled with a few sheets of paper. 'I've written a few lyrics for songs for Drake.' He had started doing so a few weeks earlier, at least officially. Actually, writing lyrics for Drake had been his dream since Drake's concert during my first spring jam at 'buildingPacific Coast Academy.

Drake appeared to like Chase's texts.

Michael was adding appropriate tunes.

Inspite of being Drake's manager, I didn't understand much about music. I just liked to listen to it.

* * *

The weekend had been a lot of fun.

But I did not notice much of it. I had to take care of Drake's concert.

Since starting that thing with Lola, Drake had not only stopped hitting on me, but also on random girls. He was more able to concentrate on his music and this a lotr more serious with his career as the next superstar.

Managing Drake also diverted me from having to think about Vince Blake's possible revenge.

But now we were returning to our campus.

The critical moment was near.

I halted my craft, letting Chase and Dustin out of there.

Where was Vince?

We could not see him.

But there was apparently a reason for that.

Vince was entoured by many fans. He didn't even look like a bully anymore.

I was shocked when I saw two particular fans of Vince waiting in the que. 'Lola? Quinn?'

My breath froze.

'Hi Zoey,' replied my roomies, smiling brightly.

I gasped. 'What are you doing? Don't you remember what Vince has done to the boys?'

While beating up Chase, Vince had also socked it to Logan, Michael, and Mark who were in his way.

Lola and Quinn nodded solemnly. 'But now he's such a gentleman.'

Lola explained, 'Vince is even in my yoga classes. Now we want an autograph!'

I sighed deeply.

But maybe they were right, and I was only seeing chimeras.

Logan and Michael were not that easy to convince.

Oops... _con-vince_, you get it?

Sorry for that pun.

Usually, it isn't my style.

Whatever!

Chase snuck away. He was probably going to fetch his cousin Corey.

I grinned.

Drake and Megan arrived in that moment.

I explained the situation.

Megan shrugged. 'I would not trust his new face. He's Ashley's brother, so... OK, just be careful, please!'

I nodded solemnly.

Chase returned with his cousin.

Drakke and Megan saw the boys approaching. 'Corey!' They were consternated.

I had been right.

Chase's cousin was one bully ass.

According to Megan, Corey had been expelled from _Première Theatre_ after the brute incident, as much as Vince.

In other words: In fetching Corey, Chase was nothing but moving from the frying pan into the boiling water.

I stepped in front of Drake and Megan. 'Don't worry, now I'm here.'

Chase smiled. 'This is my cousin Corey...' He turned his face towards his relative. 'These are my friends Zoey, Drake, Megan, Quinn, Lola...'

'Interesting,' replied chuckling Corey.

Apparently, Dean Rivers and the rest of the school's administration was very careless when accepting new pupils coming from San Diego.

Midy Crenshaw had been one example.

Corey was the next.

Alas, this time Corey had to get past me.

The year before, I had faced Chuck Javers[9:3], an unstoppable wrestling machine. Granted, my lights had gone out after a few seconds only.

That wasn't fun.

But Javers had not at all been able to break my dignity.

Poor Chase did not understand what was going on.

Corey laughed like a hyena. 'You are really dating that pathetic bitch?' He hinted at Megan. 'Out of my way,' boomed Corey, 'I don't beat up girls!'

But I was not going to budge. _Corey was apparently much more pathetic and deprecable than Chuck Javers._

Corey decided to run away. 'Have fun with Vince Blake.' He grinned sadistically.

Drake and Megan sighed with relief.

Alas, what did we have to see just two seconds later?

Trisha Kirby emerged from the masses. 'Hi sweets!' She wrapped her arms around Corey.

They made out in a most perverse manner.

That was uttermost disgusting.

And that happened in front of all the pupils.

At least Trisha deserved such a windy guy of the most deprecable sort.

Drake thanked me.

I hugged Megan and Drake. 'OK, but we need to be careful.'

Finally, Logan and Michael appeared to have forgiven Vince.

Chase did the same.

Was that a good idea?

We were sure going to find out.

* * *

The nexzt evening, I met Chase again in the lounge.

Chase remarked that he had not seen Corey or Vince all day long.

I sighed with relief. 'OK, so, how was your double date?'

Chase stammered, 'nice...'

I had expected him to say so. 'Sure...'

Chase moaned, 'may I talk honestly?'

I urged him to do so.

Chase sobbed. 'I know, it was a date with Megan, but,' stuttered he, 'I think I'm now really into Addie.' He was sort of embarrassed.

I gasped. 'Three strikes — out!'

Chase was flabbergasted.

I remarked, 'sorry, I meant... this always happens at the double dates of Dustin and Megan. It's so frustrating.'

Chase nodded. 'I know. That makes it so hard to admit to my feelings. But they are there.'

I wondered, 'what do you like so much about Addie?'

Chase replied, 'she writes interesting poems, and she plays them on her guitar, and she's a bit clumsy with her feelings, which has destroyed her previous relationships ...'

It was almost like describing himself.

After all, his feelings for Addie appeared to be a totally natural match.

There was nothing to say against them.

But it must have hurt Megan and Dustin.

Vince entered the lounge.

He greeted us in a friendly manner, and then he moved on to his new girlfriend, Mandy Franklin.[9:4]

They made out.

Mandy was one of the chieftains of the cheerleading squad. She was a typical dumb blonde.

Little wonder Vince was into that annoying sort of girl.

I had not seen Ashley since our weekend trip.

Whatever, something told me thad she was somewhere pulling the strings.

And this meant really no good at all, I can tell you.

* * *

**Chapter 10 Twisting Spines**

* * *

It was yet another boring lesson in physics taught by one Mr. Beringer.

Even Quinn had almost fallen asleep.

Of course the lessons were too easy for the geek's taste.

But Beringer was already desperately trying to talk about gravity and potential and kinetic energy.

We needed some concrete examples.

Finally, Quinn suggested a visit to a rollercoaster.

Most of us pupils were filled with glee. _It was sure going to be a perfect field trip!_

Alas, Michael Barret was afraid of rollercoasters.

* * *

Usually, Michael's fears had been kept secret.

But recklessly perverted jerk Logan Reese had spread the news like wildfire. He had been instigated byAshley Blake.

Or so I guessed. But I could not prove anything.

Michael was over the top embarrassed. He hit everywhere and started clackering.

Drake wondered how that was possible.

Megan grinned. 'Drake has been afraid of many things...'

Drake tickled Megan mercilessly. 'Don't talk about that!'

I shrugged.

Megan refrained from continuing to tickle him at all costs. 'I've already been in a rollercoaster named _Demonator_, it's the same park as the _Spine Twister_ which you are going to ride. Drake and Josh, in turn...'

I was impressed. _The __Demonator__ was said to be the most fearsome attraction of __Mystic Mountain__._

* * *

The next day, I had to stop Michael from killing Logan.

Lola and Drake tried hard to help Michael.

Chase didn't really want to dissuade Michael from violence. He was writing another song for Addie.

Those two love birds improved their lyric skills dramatically ever since they had started writing songtexts in order to impress each other.

* * *

In the evening hours, I met Dustin in the lounge.

My little brother beamed. 'Hi Zoey!'

I wondered about Dustin's good mood.

Dustin explained, 'Michael has finally trashed his girlfriend Lisa. Chase has told him his opinion. That did it in.'

I gasped. 'And that makes you happy?' I was scared to hell by my little brother's attitude.

Dustin smiled with glee. 'Lisa has never been any good for him. She wants to force him to face his fears. And she makes a lot of fun of him.'

I scratched my chin. _Was it possible to see things thos way? I had always thought Lisa Perkins to be one of the nicest girls around on the campus._ Alas, upon further thinking,I figured the following:

Michael's and Lisa's relationship was characterised by gazillions of idiotic misunderstandings, making Michael's life worse than hell.

But I was still unable to understand Dustin's glee. I ordered him to explain.

Dustin went pale.

I glared at him with grim determination in my eyes.

Dustin stuttered, 'you know about those double dates...'

I sure remembered.

They had always ended by Dustin's partner starting to date Megan's partner.

I nodded solemnly. _But, hey! Didn't that mean something like that: Dustin tried to match Megan and Michael?_ I choked.

Ha dnot the dates between Chase and Megan been horrible enough?

OK, I had never been quite objective when thinking about Chase and Megan.

But Michael and Megan...

I wondered about the partner chosen by Megan for Dustin.

My little brother did not know. 'But she's not that old. Does that calm you down?'

I shrugged. 'Probably...' Alas, in virtue of the outcomes of the previous double dates, I feared Michael ending up with Dustin's potential girlfriend. Should I have been worried by this? I decided to try to stay totally cool. That said, I was so sad for Michael, I could not deny him another girlfriend as soon as possible.

Junior prom was not so far away.

Michael would have become even more the laughingstock of the school upon showing up as a single.

Even Megan was acceptable for that avail. She may have appeared cruel, but she wasn't going to kick anyone lying on the ground even deeper into the dirt.

* * *

I met Drake in my lounge.

Drake sighed. 'I'm going to apply for playing at the prom.'

I wondered, 'didn't you want to be Lola's partner?'

Drake nodded. 'That too! But now I have to ride two horses at the same time. Whatever that means?'

I giggled. 'It will make you switch forth and back... But, that's fine. I'll sign the papers as your manager, if you need that.'

Drake was already dizzy. 'That's nice... I hate reading contracts. Alas, I figured Megan's next pick for Dustin.'

I was deadly curious.

Drake giggled. 'Wendy Gellar[10:1]'...

I scratched my head. 'That Wendy?' I had heard of one Wendy slightly older than Dustin.

Drake wondered, 'you know her?'

I sighed.'Three years ago, Dustin had a crush on one Wendy, but she had only eyes for...'

'For me,' added Drake.

I coughed. 'You know about Dustin's crush? He usually hides it.'

Drake shook his head. 'She used to be my greatest fan. Maybe she still is. But she was one of those stalking fans that never left me in peace.'

I imagined that as having been quite horrible.

Drake continued, 'we had struck a compromise. But this doesn't mean that she has ever been over it. And now I'm engaged to Lola... Megan probably tries to match Wendy. So she's out of my way.'

_Which, of course, implied Megan being really caring about Drake. She was not that furious dragon of a little sister..._ I shivered. 'Wendy scares me... Maybe we should watch their double date... from behind the bushes?' I would not have wanted to suggest anything that.

But the situation was going to be critical.

* * *

Alas, the situation of Dean Rivers was even more critical.

Our headmaster had been in constant war with his wife Tipper. He had finally decided to get a divorce.

This was straining his nerves beyond reason.

Rivers had made various unreasonable decions.

Garth Berman[10:2], our board's executive manager, was totally worried about Dean Rivers's mental health.

This instability caused us students to tremble.

But we tried to enjoy our upcoming field trip to _Mystery Mountain_.

Michael was not going to join us.

Josh Nichols was going to tutor him in physics.

Megan had organised their first double dates with Michael and Wendy for the day of the field trip.

Therefore Drake had to watch them all alone.

But we were going to communicate over the mobile phone lines.

* * *

The field trip...

I chose to share a rolercoaster cab with Lola.

Chase and James shared the cab behind us.

Stacey and Quinn were sitting in front of us.

We fastened our safety belts.

The manager counted the seconds, 'On the road in 5...4...3...2'

The cabs were set in motion.

The speed was tremendous.

I had been in roller coasters before.

But this one was really horrible. It really twisted my spine.

My cellular phone started ringing.

I picked it up.

It was Drake.

Lola was excited. She grabbed my phone and kissed it.

Now it was full of lip gloss.

I had to wipe it. 'Hi Drake... what's up with the kids?'

Drake reported, 'Wendy talks all the time... and Dustin is really glad to date her.'

I smiled, hoping a lot for Dustin.

Now I needed to wipe Lola's gloss off the cellular phone.

Otherwise the combination of the cab's speed and the disgust invoked by Lola's lip gloss would have made me puke all over my cab.

It was too windy up here to hold the cellular phone safely.

I was going to call him back later on, or so I promised.

Quinn was in a terrible mood.

Stacey had been talking about a pet goose.

There had been an article about pet geese in a journal named _Buzz_.

Lola had originally pondered getting such a bird, but she had refrained from that upon noticing that Stacey wanted such a pet.

And Stacey was the embodiment of being out.

Alas, Drake had had an idea.

His "friend" Eric Blonowitz was almost as weird as Stacey.

It would have been cool to get Stacey matched in this way.

* * *

We were finally back from _Mystery Mountain_.

Drake was a bit disappointed.

I was really exhausted. 'The _Spine Twister_ costed me a lot of nerves.'

Drake shrugged. 'OK, Wendy still talked a lot about me. Dustin would have loved to impress her. But he can't be like me, and you know that.'

I nodded. 'Dustin is something special...'

Drake coughed noisily. 'OK... Wendy has learnt about composition, because she has wanted to write tunes for my songs. Michael is also a good composer.'

I nodded.

Michael had already started writing some little tunes for Drake.

The end of the story:

Wendy wanted to learn more from Michael.

Yet another double date had gone astray.

I was feeling even more sad for Dustin.

He must have been so excited after being matched by Megan with his former crush Wendy.

That was so hard.

Wendy was not really over Drake, but she had no prospect of helping Drake with his career instead of stalking him.

That made her incredibly happy.

Michael wasn't unhappy about Wendy, either. He had been trying to play his flute chiming in with Megan's oboe's sound. But he was too embarrassed. But he was even more happy upon understanding the laws of kinetic and potential energy. He had been learning them from Joshuah Nichols by analysing the motions of colliding clacker balls, his favourite toys.

Alas, the situation of Dean Rivers had not been improving.

His wife was most likely to take away his house, his car, his video games, in one word, everything.

In that case he was probably going to make our life worse than in hell.

* * *

**Chapter 11 The Prom**

* * *

I was hanging out in my dorm with my roomies.

Audrey and dad had sold our house in San Diego, because of the bad memories.

We were going to move to uptown Los Angeles.

We kids were just no longer in need of a dorm, as our new home was going to be just a short car trip away from the campus.

Alas, prom night was around the corner.

Lola was going with Drake.

This was not going to be easy, with Drake being already the leader of the band playing at the prom.

But there were ways around that.

Drake just needed someone to sub for him on occasion, allowing him to take a break and be with Lola.

Quinn was going with Josh.

Michael was taking Wendy to the prom.

Addie was going to accompany Chase.

But I was still all alone.

That made me a bit unhappy.

Alas, summer vacations were going to be cool.

Dad knew the manager of _St. Chambrolay Hotels_.

Their branch on Maui, one of the greater islands of Hawaii, was looking for a life baywatch lifeguard for two weeks.

Due to being allowed to take someone with me, I asked Quinn and Lola.

Alas, Quinn was going to some summer camp at Cape Caneveral. She wanted to learn about rocket science.

Lola was most disappointed. 'I have to tutor one of my cousins in literature, and that blows.'

I sighed.

Quinn did the same. 'Too bad...'

Along came Drake.

I waved at him.

Drake smooched briefly with Lola, and he waved at me and Quinn. 'Hi!'

Lola sighed when she talked about her obligations for the summer/ 'So we can't see us that much.'

Drake sobbed. 'Josh wants me and Megan to come with him and Walter on a camping trip. Mom is in favour of that solution.' He was apparently not looking forward to it.

This reluctancy struck me by surprise.

I shrugged.'But you've missed Josh a lot.'

Drake nodded sadly. 'But camping trips are icky... and then Walter, the worst weather reporter of all. And Coco will probably be with them. You know what that means?'

I knew. 'She had once being on a camping trip with Dustin's class, and they lost two pupils.'[11:1] Quinn chuckled. 'I like Bruce Windchill[11:2]. He's incredibly cool.'

Drake nodded. 'Megan is even more disgusted by those prospects.'

I pitied Drake and Megan. 'OK, I'm going to talk to Audrey!'

Drake gasped, 'You would do that?'

I agreed solemnly. 'Sure! The four of use should go together to Hawaii.'

Lola gasped. 'There are too many hot girls on Hawaii...'

I chuckled. 'I'll watch Drake for you. Don't worry!'

Lola smiled.

I was still sad. 'I'm the only one left without a prom date.'

Drake scratched his head. 'OK, you've got me Lola, ...'

I moaned. 'that was a bit accidental, you now...'

Drake shrugged. 'But it was perfect. So I should help you find a prom date among my friends.'

Lola and Quinn nodded. 'That's cool, isn't it?' They high-fived.

I coughed. 'But none of the jerks from your band...'

Drake chuckled. 'I know that you are more into silent boys.'

I nodded with glee.

Drake sighed. 'There are also a few more timid ones in my classes...'

I shrugged. _Was that going to be well?_

* * *

Walking across the campus, I stumbled into Michael. He was sitting in an old, rusty car.

'Aw, hi Zoey,' squealed Michael. 'do you see my new car?'

I coughed. 'Your **new** car?'

Michael sighed. 'It's a gift. The car may be old, but it has only been mine for a few weeks.'

I grinned. 'You can drive those old swutch-controlled cars?'

Michael shook his head. 'Not yet, but I have to learn it, so I can take Wendy to the prom with it.'

I shook my head. 'You would only break Wendy's bones...'

Michael gasped. 'Hey! I'm a fast learner! And I'm only a bit more afraid of stick-switches than I am of rollercoasters.'

'That's so reassuring,' replied I in a sarcastic manner. I walked on.

'Wait,' cried Michael, 'I've already learnt... hey, what are those numbers on the switch? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...? I guess that's where I have to dial the speed of the car,...' He started the engines. '12 miles per hour would be a _1_ and a _2_, right?' He moved the stick around.

I sighed deeply. I couldn't watch it.

Michael was obviously insane. He was probably going to halucinate.

Wroom! Bang!

I took my cellular phone and typed Drake's number. 'Hi Drake, I need your help in order to scratch a ton of steel and some Michael off a tree trunk.'

* * *

Actually, Michael was not injured.

The car was only scratched.

But the tree was shaken, forced to loose a few branches and a lot of leaves.

Michael was stuck in a heap of wood and green leaves.

Maybe this was the perfect moment for using Quinn's silent leaf blowers, one of her first inventions that worked well?[11:3]

Drake sighed when he helped Michael leaving the trash box. 'OK, I tell you, I've learnt the hard way, with a rusty beach car. It left me in pieces.[11:4]'

Michae squealed. 'Aw man...'

I sighed. 'OK, Drake, as you are an expert for riding rusty cars... Would you teach Michael to...'

'Sure thing,' answered Drake, 'by the way, I'm going to play your song during prom night.'

Michael and Wendy had composed the tune to a poem written by Chase and Addie.

And Drake was going to perform it.

MIchael grinned, 'OK, I'll get my car a bit cleaned, and then we may start...'

I hoped that Drake was a bit more responsible than he had used to be, at least according to Megan's statements.

Logan and Vince moved past us.

Logan asked the football jock, 'do you want us to get to _Pete's and Sam's_ by limousine or by carrier slaves?'

Vince grinned. 'I think ... a limo should do it. Your dad's limo has got a pool, right?'

Logan nodded. 'Pool and fridge...'

Vince smiled. 'Don't forget pedicure for the girls. Ashley is very sensiftive when it comes down to that.'

Logan nodded. 'Thanks for the hint.'

I shuddered with disgust. _Spoiled brats..._

_Pete's and Sam's_ was an elitary restaurant not far from _Pacific Coast Academy_.

Drake shrugged. 'Oh, my friends Craig and Eric are coming this afternoon.'

I guessed, 'one of them will be my prom partner?'

Drake nodded. 'They are freaks. But Craig is only totally freaky when hanging out with Eric. I need a way to separate them.'

I was a bit scared. _Drake's strategy was better not going to fail, or else..._ Alas, I had to go back to my room in order to sew a few prom gown for my friends. Lola needed a particularly cool one.

* * *

I was alone in my room.

There were noises at the door.

I opened.

Drake walked in, followed by the freaks.

It did not take me a lot to tell Eric from Craig.

Drake grabbed Eric Blonowitz by the wrists. 'OK, we're going to the lounge!' He dragged him out.

Eric protested. 'Hey, not wothout that hot blonde...'

I shuddered.

Craig was upset as well. He sobbed. 'I'm totally lost without Eric.'

I wondered why.

Craig had always been hanging out together. For him, he had started to go to all those freaky places like libraries, book clubs, observatories, museums... He was horribly afraid of girls.

I pitied Craig. 'Come on, I don't bite. Most girls do, such as my roomie Lola, that's so totally true. But I don't. Except when someone stuffs his hand into my mouth. But that's self-protection.'

Craig sighed.

I had to fit him into my hand-made tuxedo suit.

Craig whimpered a bit. He was really stiff.

But I mastered the situation. 'It fits like cast on you.'

Craig sighed with relief. 'May I sing something? But not rock.'

I shrugged. 'OK!'

Craig started to sing. 'Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me, starlight and dew drops are waiting for thee.'

I smiled. 'That sounds cool!'

He didn't sing very well, but with a lot of passion.

I grinned. 'OK, we may go to the prom. Now let's wee what Drake has done to Eric.'

Craig wondered, 'Eric who?' He had actually forgotten about his closest pal. 'Oh, yeah, that Eric...'

* * *

Down in the lounge, we met Drake.

I wondered, 'where's Eric?'

Drake shrugged. 'A certain Stacey Dillsen walked past us, carrying a cortton swab model.'

'Aw Stacey,' squealed I.

Drake continued, 'Eric had fumbled wildly and smashed the cotton swab thing unintentionally to the ground, making Stacey scream.'

Michael was wit Drake. 'And then Stacey cursed about everyone, and about her life, and she whined piteously, talking about her best friend, a telescope.'

Drake added, 'now, see, Eric is a passionatew astronomer, he asked Stacey about her telescope, and about astronomy. Now they have gone watching stars, somewhere out in the dunes.'

Michael grinned with glee.

I smiled. 'Oh, that's good for Eric and Stacey!'

Drake nodded wholeheartedly.

* * *

Lola opened the prom with a few words. 'I just have to say that...' She didn't say anything, but kissed Drake on the angle of his mouth.

Drake swooned. 'Let's rock!'

Lola beamed with glee.

Dustin and Megan were among a group of middle school kids that helped with the supplies, especially snacks and drinks, along with Monica, Jack, Janie, and Henry.

I danced along with Craig.

Of course that was only an emergency solution.

But we got along quite well for that.

And it was nothing compared to Eric and Stacey...

Eric whispered, 'your eyes are the most beautiful stars of all.'

Stacey sighed. 'Inspite of unilateral astigmatism?'

Eric nodded. 'Nothing withstanding! I once needed my glasses repaired...' He started demonstrating his perfectly dry deadbone humour.

Stacey was totally enthusiastic about that.

Weren 't they cute?

I needed a smoothie from Megan's and Dustin's booth.

Dustin asked me, 'when will you marry Craig?'

I fainted. 'Aren't you a bit daring? We're not anywhere near there.'

Megan chuckled. 'He's a freak. But I understand Dustin ... I've always wished to get some order into Drake's life. That is, until Lola and Drake...'

The two lovebirds were dancing really close to some taped music produced by Wendy, Michael, Chase, and Addie.

Vince and Trisha glared mischievously at all of us.

Logan and Ashley danced in an arrogant manner.

Their manners of asking Megan and Dustin for snacks was even more arrogant.

Quinn and Josh danced perfectly.

Quinn told me, 'Drake had won a dancing contest with Drake.[11:5] But they got disqualifued.'

Megan chuckled. 'Long story.' She shrugged.

I just wanted to enjoy the moment.

Oh, Michael had finally learnt to ride a stick car, but he had preferred to make it to the prom on foot, arm in arm with his Wendy.

Chase and Addie were totally addicted to each other. They were so cute to watch.

All of a sudden, a girl showed up which I had never wanted to see again. It was Mindy Crenshaw, the plagiariser.

Mindy grinned mischievously. She was going to dance with Firewire.

Drake yelled, 'get your ass out of here, creature!'

Mindy grinned. 'oh, or else what?'

Drake grunted, 'I'm going to call Dean Rivers!'

I nodded solemnly.

Firewire gaggled. 'The world is coming to an end. Dean Rivers has just broken down.'

I gasped. 'What?'

Firewire continued, 'OK, this is the begin of the dystopia. Run to the hills! Run for your life!' He cackled demonically.

Mindy followed him.

I was glad about their exit.

But what had happened to Dean Rivers?

The pupils were all consternated.

The party was almost dying.

Even Vince and Logan were worried.

We knew about the nervous fragility of the headmaster since the start of his process of divorce.

* * *

Monday morning.

Garth Berman and secretary Beverly announced that Dean Rivers had been taken to _St. Schneider's Hospital_[11:6]. 'He could not handle the stress any longer.'

This was a big mental burden for us students.

We were sent into the summer break. But we did not know about the future of our school. And we weren't going to learn more about it until late August...

That was no good.

But the vacations on Maui were going to divert us, weren't they?

* * *

**Chapter 12 Summer Break**

* * *

So, this was our new home...

I had got a somewhat eerie feeling.

But the house was not too bad.

I had to share a room with Megan, while Drake and Dustin shared the room across the floor.

My new room was bright and sunny.

I agreed with Megan on getting the walls painted light blue colours.

As a downside, our room was pointing towards the busy street.

Dustin's and Drake's room was smaller but more quiet.

Having hardly prepared our new rooms, we were already planning our trip to Maui. He had to choose our clothes.

That was so hard.

I had got so many cool dresses in my wardrobe, but I needed to decide on just a few.

We were only to stay on Maui for twelve days.

In addition, too many clothes would have weighed our luggage own.

Megan compared several clothers, asking curiously , 'which colours does Dustin like most?'

I looked quizzically. _Why was Megan going to chose her dresses according to Dustin's preferences?_ But I named a few colours.

My hardest decision was that of leaving my plush cuddlefish at home.

I know...

It's really _cuttlefish_.

But I loved cuddling with that plush squid. I sighed deeply.

* * *

Quite to the contrary, the boys were fast done with their luggage.

Drake's guitar was, of course, the biggest piece of luggage.

Drake judged one pair of undergarment to be enough for twelve days.

Dustin 's luggage was still very lightweight.

He was a little boy, but he was now growing.

I guessed him to grow for over a foot during the following year.

Knowing about Dustin's aversion to going shopping, a lot of work involving was going to await me, such as the need of buying and designing new clothes for him.

Of, course, as a caring elder sister I was going to do that without moaning beyond reason.

* * *

The days on maui were too few.

I worked as a life guard down by the beach.

Fortunately there were no major incidences.

I had to teach swimming to some smaller kids, though.

Drake was playing his guitar a lot. he also flirted with a few random girls passing by.

I had promised unto Lola to keep him safe for her.

But Lola didn't mind him flirting briefly with other girls.

The same worked vice versa.

They were professionals.

Dustin and Megan worked for the hotel, too. They sold little things to the guests, such as candy, towels for the beach, sun blocker, and stuff.

Megan once wanted to sell Drake some sun blocker as sugar syrup.

But I talked her into refraining from that.

But there was something that worried me a bit.

Dustin and Megan were hugging a lot without any trace of an obvious reason, and much tighter than I would have hugged them.

I did not want to spoil our fun, though, so I let it just pass.

* * *

Back to Los Angeles...

There were still several weeks of summer break left for us.

Too bad most of our friends were far away.

But I had to help Drake preparing his next tour.

Wendy came visiting us in order to show us a new tune to a text written previously by Addie.

This reminded me fatally of Dustin's many failed dates.

Dustin had been into Wendy when she was fatally addicted to Drake. He had been given a second chance by means of the double date, but flunked it like nothing.

Wendy had run away with Michael.

I supposed Dustin to feel a bit hurt by Wendy's visit.

Alas, it was not that bad.

Dustin was pretty much over the whole thing.

I would have liked to see Lola during the summer break as well.

Of course Drake did so even more.

But the preparations for his tour had reduced his spare time a whole lot.

Likewise, Lola was not only busy tutoring her cousin, but she was also preparing for auditioning for a new show named _Wizards Of Rodeo Drive_[12:1].

In a similar vein, Lisa Perkins was preparing for the recalls of popular casting show _America Sings_[12:2], where she was looking forward to a career as a pop star.

Seeing Wendy in our house left me with an uneasy feeling.

Michael and Lisa had seemed to be happy together for over a year, but their life had been full of misunderstandings of the worst sort.

Thus it had been much better for them to separate.

With Wendy, Michael could be totally himself without any need for stupid compromises and fear of getting something wrong.

Lisa had been so mad at Michael, she refused to sing tunes composed by him. Neither did she want to use Chase's lyrics any longer.

That was her bad, of course.

But I was still going to try to talk her into cooperating.

She needed a lot of practice for the contest.

Drake and his drummers could help Lisa a lot on her quest.

But she needed to accept that first.

And that was not easy for her.

Many had wondered whether I was going to see Craig again.

I had to calm them down.

We had been partners at the prom night.

But this meant just that much, and nothing more.

Of course I would not have objected to him visiting us during the summer break.

But Eric should have stayed away.

Alas, our schedules had been very busy.

But I was going to see Craig again at Drake's departure for the tour.

Unfortunately Eric was most likely going to be with him.

* * *

It was the last night before Drake's departure for his next tour.

I was already asleep.

But Megan woke me up when changing into her pyjamas.

Having seen Dustin being over the whole thing with Wendy made me finally dare to ask, 'oh Megan, are you and Dustin...'

Megan blushed furiously.

This should have confirmed it.

I did not condemn that.

It was just realy daring.

Audrey and dad could most likely have gone insane over it, but who were they to complain...

Good parents don't cheat on their partners every other year.

Megan explained, 'after all those double-dates going awry...'

I nodded. _This was so easy to understand._

In addition, Dustin was one of the first decent boy — i.e. not a "boob" — Megan had met.

Drake and Josh had been absolutely no good examples of what to look for in a boy.

And then there were many things they liked to do together, such as playing soccer, surfing the interweb, doing homeworks, pulling pranks on neighbours, and lots more.

As mentioned, there was nothing wrong with them dating, but they just needed to refrain from going too far at their age.

And everything needed to be hidden from our insane parents.

I was going to talk to Dustin about the same things.

He was now for two days with Scooter in San Diego.

Scooter missed us an insane lot.

* * *

I took Drake to the airport. I was not going to manage him on the road.

Josh wanted to do that for this tour.

This was just totally fair.

In addition, I wanted to fly with Dustin to grandma and mom in Boston, Massachusetts, for just a few days before the restart of school.

Craig and Eric had come in order to say good-bye to Drake.

The plane took off into the Californian sky.

I would have loved to get rid of Eric for a few hours. It was so hard to talk to Craig in the presence of the mega-freak.

Unfortunately, Stacey Dillsen was exactly from Massachusetts.

But that state was not exactly an island with one rock and one tree.

Avoiding the cotton swab freak was thus possible for me.

Megan was going to spend a few days with Janie.

The next year at _Pacific Coast Academy_ — my senior year — was going to bring us a lot of changes.

Were they good or bad?

I could not know it yet,

But we had to be very careful.

* * *

**Chapter 13 Senior Year**

* * *

My senior year at the _Pacific Coast Academy_ was about to start.

Drake drove me, Megan, and Dustin to the campus.

Dustin had been growing several inches during summer break.

I had been afraid of Dustin's growth propulsion.

He was now most likely attracting a lot of additional girls.

Most of those wenches were probably evil suckers.

Or maybe I just thought that. I was never going to drop my protectivirty.

Seeing it like that, Megan's and Dustin's increased mutual affection was probably a boon. It was creepy, but reassuring.

I had grown already pretty much familiar with Megan.

But the anonymous mass of girls potentially lusting for Dustin made me crazy.

But, down to Megan, Dustin had come to know his goals and dreams. He was not going to be distracted by random girls, just for coolness's sake.

And Megan was definitely not a reckless seductress like Trisha, quite the contrary, she was totally serious.

But, as already mentioned, it had to be secret.

OK. This year's first day was totally different from my previous first days.

I was not going to go to my dormitory room and drop my luggage. I was just going to get my schedules and greet my friends.

Most of them were already done with their luggage.

* * *

I met Lola in the cafeteria.

She snuggled up to Drake and kissed him tenderly, as expected. But she felt scared by something.

Of course I wanted to know about her vacations.

Lola sighed. 'I had to teach my cousin in literature. That blew.' She wiped a lot of sweat off her face. 'And I've missed Drake to death...'

Drake beamed brightly. 'I know, sweetheart!'

Along came Quinn. Her face was not promising anything good.

I was curious.

Quinn explained, 'Coco ha made Stacey Dillsen our new roomie.'

I gasped.

Lola nodded sadly. 'One year as Stacey's roomie is worse than one hundred years in hell. And I know everything about hell. I've played Beatrix in Dante's _Inferno_[13:1].'

I chuckled.

Alas, it wasn't funny.

That's why Lola kicked my shins.

I better kept my mouth shut. 'OK... so what about your activities concerning acting?'

Lola grinned. 'Yeah! I'm going to be the female main rôle!'

I smiled. 'That's cool!'

Lola grinned. 'Malcolm said that it's about a good-looking witch with nothing in her head.'

I chuckled. 'Who would dare to give that rôle to anyone else?'

Megan grinned.

Quinn, on the other hand, was already excited about upconing science fair. 'In the summer camp, I've made a new quinnvention. It allows you to create talkative remote holograms of yourself.'

Drake shrugged.

Quinn explained. 'You can be elsewhere and let a virtual copy of yourself appear in classes. The teacher won't notice your absence.'

Drake swooned. 'Cool! Why was there nothing like that when I was at school?'

Megan chuckled. 'Aw boob!'

Lola explained, 'I will need that in history classes. Our teacher is Mr. Freedman[13:2], he's totally boring.'

I sighed. 'I've heard that he is.'

Dustin nodded.

Megan sighed deeply. 'My teachers are totally boring, as well. Mr. Beringer for physics, Mr. Toplin[13:3] for history, ...'

Dustin nodded. 'Same here. Worst is Mrs. Hayfer for English. She had been at Megan's school for twenty years, a pain in the ass for everyone. And now...'

I comforted Dustin.

Drake giggled.

Megan kicked his shins.

Drake had suffered most from Mrs. Hayfer.

My teachers for this year weren't any better, anyways.

OK, I didn't want to think about my teachers for the rest of the day, and I concentrated on my dinner.

We wanted to return to our new home right after that.

But then my eyes bugged out. 'Rebecca!'

The old nemesis was back.

Drake wondered. 'Rebecca?'

I told Drake briefly about the evil things I had to go through, down to Rebecca. 'She forced me to dance to some embarrassing song, _Macalana_[13:4].'

Dern!

Rebecca had noticed me.

Drake was consternated. 'Wait, if she annoys you again, I will beat her black and blue.'

'I thought you don't beat girls,' remarked Megan.

He sighed. 'That doesn't give her the permit to be rude to Zoey!'

I sighed. _Violence was no solution!_

Megan whispered, 'Rebecca might hurt him as Corey did.'

I shrugged.

Rebecca walked closer to us. 'Hi! You won't escape me! See you!'

Quinn and Lola looked at Rebecca in a diapproving manner.

Rebecca grinned. 'Aw, my loving cousin pouts, that is so cute!' She walked out on the cafeteria.

Lola went pale.

_Wait! Rebecca called Lola a cousin of hers?_ I gasped.

Lola had never mentioned unto me that she was related to Rebecca.

I glared at Lola. 'What does that mean? You and Rebecca are related?'[13:5]

Lola fainted and started stammering, 'er, I think Stacey needs my help. She has just called me.' She stood up and darted away from us.

Quinn grunted, 'I haven't heard Stacy...'

Actually, Lola used to invent all sorts of excuses in order to not have to help Stacey in whatever situation.

It was clearly a white lie.

She had something to hide.

Drake was consternated. 'Lola owes you an explanation, doesn't she?'

I nodded solemnly, 'She does, very much so!'

Drake sighed and promised, 'I'm going to talk to her.'

Many things were possible.

Why had Lola never talked about that fact?

Had she been responsible for Chase and Rebecca dating?

What a nice friend!

Drake asked me, 'do you want me to try to talk to Lola right away, or do we better go home and get back to this topic some other day?'

I sighed deeply.

Dustin wanted Lola to pay for her treason right away.

Megan chuckled. 'I could think of a few cool pranks.'

I had to think about it. But I did not want to judge my best friend of three years prematurely. 'Let's return home.'

Drake nodded. 'That's OK!'

Dustin was disappointed.

Quinn also wanted to try to get Lola to talk. 'But I could imagine that Lola wanted you to become jealous and admit to Chase.'

I looked puzzled.

It hurt me, no matter what.

Drake took his keys. 'OK, let's go home!'

We waved at Quinn.

* * *

Back at home.

We did not want to talk to Audrey about our incidence.

She was way too old to understand our problems.

I withdrew to my room.

Megan followed me.

I lay on my bed.

My cellular phone rang.

Megan picked it up for me. 'Hi.. here Megan Parker for Zoey Brooks... Oh, Quinn!' She sighed.

I listened carefully.

Quinn explained, 'Lola is hiding in her wardrobe. Stacey is upset about that. I can't stand that much more. Especially as Firewire appears to have invented something during summer break, too. I don't want to lose the science contest to him. It's so weird.'

I nodded solemnly.

Of course, Quinn could not see that.

* * *

The next morning, I shared geometry classes with Lola.

Our teacher, Mr. Morgan[13:6]

Usually, Lola and I would have sat next to each other.

But she avoided me.

Lisa Perkins subbed for her. 'Hi, Zoey!' She smiled.

I was glad to sit next to her.

Lisa explained that she had been accepted into the next recall of _America Sings_.

Mr. Morgan entered and started talking.

I was not really attentive during the classes.

Lisa wondered what I was up to.

* * *

In the great break, I met Lola again. I wanted her to talk.

She refused to talk.

Suddenly, Drake came along. 'Lola, I love you, but you need to be honest to Zoey.'

She sighed deeply.

Drake hugged her. 'Tell us!'

Lola sobbed. 'Three years ago, I was on a date with Chase.[13:7]'

I remembered that. _Had she been trying to get me jealous?_

Lola explained, 'Well, I really did that in order to learn flirting with less attractive boys, an actress needs to do so from time to time...'

I understood that, albeit reluctantly.

Drake sighed. 'I will have to learn to kiss ugly girls as well...' He shuddered with disgust.

Lola replied, 'you're a great actor, sweetie, don't worry.'

Drake sighed with relief.

Lola continued, 'OK, I noticed that Chase was really into you. But he talked about a girl from his hometown. It was a white lie. But it gave me an idea... my cousin Rebecca needed acting practice, and you needed someone to be jealous of ion order to put an end to the stupid situation between Chase and yourself. That was a perfect rôle for her.'

I sighed deeply. I could not deny Rebecca to have acted well. I had been somewhat jealous.

But this had only been for the moment.

Lola finalised, 'alas, Rebecca also wanted to be paid for acting as his girlfriend. Chase denied that, and he thought Rebecca to have gone too far. Rebecca was upset. Hence the thing with the _Macalana_.'

I banged my head against the wall.

Drake smiled. 'Cuddle!'

I wrapped my arms around Lola.

The onlookers moaned.

Quinn and Stacy chimed in, clapping rhythmically.

I sighed with relief.

Lola kissed Drake again.

Concerning Chase, he was now happy with Addie.

They had never had been stuck in confusions and misunderstandings.

I did not want to awaken sleeping dogs again.

* * *

**Chapter 14 Chuck Javers**

* * *

As reported, I had once lost in a wrestling match to martial machine Chuck Javers.

The next state finals in wrestling were now just around the corner.

Fortunately, our sexist coach had been fired.

Unfortunately, the replacement was Juan Martinez, the dad of Lola. He was regularly coaching one of Lola's cousins, an aspiring mixed martial artist.[14:1]

I was not exactly eager on making it into the wrestling team again. I had only been used as cannon fodder by our coach, anyways. I had had the courage to face Chuck, but I had been done in and made pass out after five seconds.

This almost made me the laughingstock of our school.

And nowadays, Logan made fun of me for being a coward.

* * *

I sat sadly on our new family couch,

Drake walked up to me. 'What's nagging you?' He had grown a lot more caring during the last year, not only for Megan, but also for me and Dustin.

I sobbed.

Drake hugged me briefly. 'OK, you may talk now,'

I nodded. 'Well, it's the wrestling tournament...'

Drake had heard about that.

This year, the finals were going to take place in San Diego Belleview.

I told Drake about Chuck Javers.

Drake sighed. 'Come on, you're not a coward, you're a hero. Your coach only needed you because he knew that most boys don't want to fight girls, so he could save his male fighter for Javers, But you refused to budge, because you're not a coward.'

I peered extremely quizzically.

Drake explained, 'come on, you've done your duty.'

I nodded. 'Probably...'

Drake sighed. 'Once upon a time, I thought the same way. I deemed boys facing girls in a martial discipline absurd.'

I sighed. 'Most boys do think so.'

Drake nodded. 'Until I had a girl friend that took on fooitball jocks. Her name was Lucie.[14:2]'

I gasped. 'Wow! You like tomboys?'

Drake sighed. 'At first she didn't look like one. And when I was already into her, I was upset, afraid of girls stronger than boys. I didn'tr want to believe it. We even wrestled. But she didn't put much effort into it. That was humiliating.'

I sighed. 'Sorry! I'm sure she just didn't want to hurt you. She must have loved you at some point...'

Drake moaned. 'many girls did... but that's over. Now it's Lola forever!'

I giggled. 'So... how did you end Lucie break up?'

Drake moaned, 'well, I was still ashamed of being weaker than her. But that did not last forever. Lucie wanted to coach me. But I was too lazy. That's why she finally trashed me.'

I shrugged. 'OK, that sounds plausible.'

Megan walked in and giggled. 'Drake is lazy, period.'

Drake coughed.

I remarked, 'Megan says so because she loves you and wants you to work harder on getting better. It's just her tricky way to tell you so.'

Drake glared aghast.

Megan grabbed and shook me. 'Did you have to tell him?' Megan had never requested to keep that a secret.

I sighed.

But that wasn't all.

Drake continued, 'A year later, Josh had invited two of my ex girlfriends, among them Lucy, to a party. My girlfriend of the day, Carlie Brimmer[14:3], came as well. I was already scared.'

Megan giggled.

I remarked, 'You've had more girlfriends than pieces of undergarment. Josh could hardly avoid something like that.'

Drake shrugged. 'Megan made it worse. She arranged those girls to sit next to each other.'

Megan cackled like crazy.

Drake shook Megan. 'You mean thing.!'

I had to separate them. 'OK, I guess the girls talked about you behind your back?'

Drake nodded. 'Oh yeah... and then they asked me embarrassing stuff about them. I was scared and ran away. As a result, Carlie trashed me angrily, and Lucie was even more upset.'

Megan nodded. 'Lucie coaches _Belleview_ team!'

I gasped. 'You will see her there!'

Drake shook his head. 'I don't even dare to face her again, so I won't accompany our team.'

I objected, 'the cheerleaders need you as a backup guitarist!'

Drake shivered. 'And it's all Megan's fault.'

Megan grunted, 'boob! You had got so many ex-girlfriends, it's impossible to prevent them from meeting and talking about you behind your back. There was even a table exclusively for your ex-girlfriends in the cafeteria.'

Drake glared aghast.

I nodded solemnly. 'You have to thank Megan for giving you the occasion to be there when they talk about you. So you did finally see what was going on between your ex-girls once you turned your back to them.'

Drake was consternated.

Megan kissed Drake on the top of his head. 'I hope you've learned from your experience.' She smiled.

'I will talk to Lucie,' promised I, 'but you need to support our cheerleaders.'

Drake shivered. 'OK... maybe...'

I hugged him. 'Come on, it won't be that bad!'

Megan added, 'but don't try to take on Chuck Javers in order to avenge Zoey's injuries. You won't perform well, and you know it!'

Drake sighed with despair.

* * *

Upon Lola begging incessantly, her dad Juan had successfully talked me into the wrestlers' team, but only as a sub for Corey Matthews.

I was a bit disgusted.

But it was the best solution for our team.

Dustin and Megan came with us, holding stingray and waving banners.

Megan also carried her oboe. 'I will play the march from _Aida_ for you...'

I smiled. 'Only if I actually win...' I did not believe in having to fight, anyways.

* * *

It was a heated encounter of all the wrestlers from all of the high schools of California.

Logan had been flattened after ten seconds.

Also Duke Blatzberg[14:4], our heaviest wrestler, stood no chance.

Even Vince Blake lost early on.

Kenneth Keller[14:5], son of our basketball coach, had been brave, but he was also defeated after a few turns.

The cheerleading girls were in an increasingly grumpy mood.

Especially Rebecca was disgusted. 'Those aren't men, but suckish wimps!'

Only Corey had made it into the finals.

But then he realised his opponent, 'Chuck Javers!' He suddenly turned into a coward and ran away.

Coach Juan was consternated.

Trisha Kirby, who was one of our cheerleaders, followed her boyfriend Corey outside.

The fact was:

Corey did not return.

Thus it was my turn to face Chuck Javers once more...

Thew real terror started when Drake recognised the coach of Chuck: 'Lucie,' yelled he with despair.

Alas, Lucie was not only Chuck's coach, but also his girlfriend.

At least they smooched with glee during the break before the final battle.

Drake was now really upset.

Of course, Trisha and Rebecca were not going to cheerlead for me.

Mandy Franklin, the girlfriend of Vince Blake, was also a bit unwilling to continue cheerleading.

Maria Hughes[14:6] stood up for me.

And there was also one Sarah Kyla, a former majorette.[14:7]

Drake finally talked to Rebecca. Miraculously, he got her to come back into the cheerleading squad.

How was that possible?

In the same time, Lola gave me a relaxing masage.

I needed one despeartely before the fight with Chuck Javers.

The umpire called us finally into the ring.

Lola and Lisa were going to sing with Drake.

He instructed them, 'lyrics are by Chase Matthews and Addie Singer, tune is by Michael Barret and Wendy Gellar. Let's perform that as we've rehearsed it! We're stingrays, not losers.'

Lola and Lisa agreed.

The umpire blew the initial resistance.

Lola and Lisa started singing.

* * *

Zoey's a stingray gladiator  
We all know what she stands for/  
She will help us with our lives  
She kicks open every door.  
When Chuck Javers roams the ring  
She needs all the help she can  
And the cheerleaders all swing  
With Drake Parker's mandoline.[14:8]

* * *

The battle was on.

I did what Juan had taught me. I was much weaker than Javers. For that avail, I had to use my agility and my intelligence in order to make up for that.

This went well for quite some time.

Chuck tried to grab me.

But I swiftly evaded. I even scored two minor counters.

Drake tried harder.

* * *

See all stingrays shout out loud  
Give us more! Yeah! Give us more!  
And we're thinking to ourselves:  
Zoey's the stingray gladiator!

* * *

I was only slightly down with my score.

Chuck Javers was now more dangerous because of turning increasingly insane.

I had to be more concentrated in order to evade his reckless slams.

Chavers bounced all across the ring, but for not much avail.

Drake did not give up.

* * *

Zoey's the stingray gladiator.  
She will fill and ease our mind.  
She'll instill our confidence  
When we feel all lost behind.  
See some thousand violins,  
Megan's oboe soar on high,  
Waves of Lisa Perkins hymns,  
Lola screams up to the sky.

* * *

Chuck Javers was getting increasingly tired.

There was only half a minute to go.

* * *

Stand through mayhems and through blues  
Fight for love and fight for art.  
Tonight the black belt's what we choose.  
Zoey's always in our heart.  
Zoey helps us with our love,  
Dance the waltz that lovers do,  
Tango with the linen glove,  
To the Californian moon.  
See some thousand violins,  
Megan's oboe soar on high,  
Waves of Lisa Perkins hymns,  
Lola screams up to the sky.

* * *

The fight was over, and Chuuk Javers snuck out of the ring with the tail clamped between his legs.

Now Lucie had to nurse him up again.

Megan, Dustin, and Drake hugged the living hell out of me.

Lola and Lisa cheered.

Rebecca said nothing while listening to Megan's performance of the march of victory.

I was too tired to take much notice.

Lucie apologised for having overreacted towards Drake.

But I was dead on my feet and needed to be carried to the bus.

* * *

**Chapter 15 Happy Birthday**

* * *

I was finally turning eighteen years old.

Mom called me at 5 a.m. She didn't say too much. She was in such a hurry.

Apparently, that time shift of three hours between Massachusetts and Los Angeles were the reason for the mess.

OK, that was just the start of my great day.

But was it really that great?

6.30 a.m... Megan woke up. The year before, she had known my birthday.

This had been strange.

She had known me for a few weeks only.

But today...

Megan seemed to think of it as of a normal day. 'Good morning... breakfast... are the boys already in the bathroom?'

* * *

We used to help the boys waking up and get their clothes done. We did so today, too.

Without my care, Dustin would have run around with his old underwear for several weeks.

He had grown for almost a foot during the last summer, rendering most of his old garments useless.

But today...

Dustin just complained about my protectivity.

I was getting impatient. _Had my own little brother forgotten about my birthday? I had never ever forgotten his._

Drake, well... he had often enough forgotten Josh's birthday[15:1].

I did not have to wonder about that.

We walked down for breakfast.

* * *

I hugged dad a good morning, waiting for him to congratulate me as he had used to do.

But there was nothing like that.

Audrey shrugged. 'Tea or coffee?'

Megan and Dustin giggled and whispered many sweet things unto each other.

The whole breakfast went by without a mention of my birthday.

I sighed with despair.

* * *

Drake had taken us to school.

It was not one of his days scheduled for advising the school's band.

For that avail, he just waved at us and returned downtown.

I was looking forward to my friends.

Lola was already awaiting for me. She was probably the first to congratulate me. 'Hi Zoey, nice weather!'

I coughed. _The sun was shining, the birds were singing, but I had been waiting for something else._ 'Probably...'

We walked to our science classes.

Quinn was sitting in front of us. 'Hey... do you think I should show him my invention?'

I shrugged. 'Nice to see you, too...'

The boys remained ignorant, as well.

Chase and Michael had their mind wiped out.

Or so it seemed.

Logan remained silent, too. But he was a jerk.

I was not surprised,

The classes started.

Mr. Beringer's classes were boring as usual.

Suddenly there was a voice from the megaphone. 'Zoey Brooks to the administration office, I repeat...'

Mr. Beringer gave me a pass.

I shrugged and walked away. _No headmaster would have called a pupil into his office just in order to congratulate for a birthday, would they?_

* * *

Executive Chairman Garth Berman was already waiting. He was probably not aware of my birth date.

Dean Rivers was still in rehabilitation.

The board had not yet decided on a new dean.

For that avail, Berman took over part of the dean's responsibilities, delegating others unto some of our teachers, such as Mr. Bender.

I shook hands with Garth,

He used to be really nice for a chairman. 'Good morning, Miss Brooks. I've prepared the papers requested by you.'

I plastered a forced smile.

The papers were for the admission offices of some colleges.

Alas, Garth saw my personal data lying in front of himself.

Each intelligent person should have noticed mt birth date and compared it to the current day.

But Berman remained calm. 'Good luck for your college applications!'

I grinned. 'Thank you...'

Berman had prepared similar papers for other students, such as Firewire and Maria Hughes.

I left the office with some disappointment.

* * *

The day had gone by.

Not even Kazu had remembered that day of the year.

I wanted to have a tempura roll before returning home.

But he was hastily closing down _Sushi Rox_ for the rest of the day. 'Sorry, an emergency case...'

I sighed deeply.

* * *

Drake picked us up at the student drop in order to take us home. 'Our parents have gone out for the evening with our new neighbours.'

I grunted, 'why, oh why?'

Megan and Dustin shrugged. Alas, they were glad about the parents' absence. As had been said, they had something to hide from them.

OK, there was no way to celebrate the evening of my birthday with dad and Audrey.

But maybe the kids were finally remembering that special day?

Drake remarked, 'oh, I've got to go, too. Helen Baxter has called me. There are some troubles at the theatre. She needs my help.'

I sighed with excessive despair.

* * *

So I was left all alone with Dustin and Megan.

It was their last chance to remember the day.

But they appeared to remain ignorant.

Megan asked, 'Zoey, will you take us to Drake's concert tonight?'

I gasped. 'Drake is giving a concert?'

Dustin nodded solemnly. 'Megan and I, we've got backstage passes. Please...' He rubbed his head against my shoulders, glaring with puppy eyes. He was already strongly pubescent. But he had not unlearned to use his baby's weapons.

I could not contradict. _But I was Drake's manager. So, he was about giving a concert, without me knowing? There was something smelling fishy. Not even Kazu's waste bin could have hold a candle to that stench. In addition, Megan had never been going to the "boob"'s concert, let alone accept backstage tickets._ I had to find out. _Maybe they were going elsewhere, just to be alone with each other?_ I had to investigate.

Sadly, I grabbed the keys for the family's second car.

* * *

We arrived at the concert hall.

Megan and Dustin dragged me to the back entrance.

I didn't have tickets, but I was left through.

Dustin explained, 'our big sister needs to watch over us!'

I shrugged. _Of course I did. But it was unusual for Dustin to say so. He was usually embarrassed and would have loved to be left unsupervised._ Walking the backstage, I was imagining some voices.

'Illumination... check! Sound... check!'

It sounded like Quinn's voice.

But my forgetful friend was impossibly there, inspite of being able to perform tasks like checking accoustics and optics of a stage.

Students were usually not given regular passes in order to leave the campus for an evening job.

Dustin and Megan dragged me into the filling audience.

We were sitting in the front row.

The hall was very dark.

Helen Baxter's voice went trembling through the ground. 'OK, ladies and gents... Drake wants to say something to his fans, a special dedication or so...'

The audience applauded.

I was listening deliriously only. _The day had been one big disappointment. So why bother at all?_

Drummer boy Neil[15:2] made his drumsticks dance.

Drake stepped up to the microphone. 'Hi! This evening is dedicated to someone special. I could not concentrate on my music without a competent manager doing all those organisational tasks. It is a special concert for someone showing me the way to go. For the best manager and most wonderful step-sister in the world... Zoey Brooks!'

I gasped. _Had Drake just been talking about me?_ I rubbed some sleep off my temples.

Megan and Dustin grinned and poked me.

I was hit by a flood of spot lights.

Lola stood by Drakes side, snuggling up to him. 'Oh, happy birthday, Zoey!' She waved, grinning mischievously.

They had not forgotten about my birthday. They had ignored it in order to surprise me.

Oh, that was one surprise!

Also, I had not been imagining Quinn's voice.

She was waving at me from the engineer's spot. 'Happy birthday!' She had organised the whole mess, along with Josh Nichols.

I was dragged up to Drake's spot by Megan and Dustin.

He hugged the living hell out of me. 'Happy Birthday!'

I smiled. 'Thanks a lot!'

From there, it was possible to overlook the audience.

Dad and Audrey were there. They waved around.

Drake explained, 'Chase and Addie have written a bunch of birthday poems for you. Michael and Wendy contributed the tunes. Now I'm going to perform all the mess,' he cackled.

Chase, Michael, Addie, and Wendy stood up and waved at me. They grinned like rascals.

I sat down again.

Drake started playing his new songs.

They were totally wonderful.

But it was time for a break.

Alas, it was already past 9 p.m.

Curfew was approaching.

But Garth Berman showed up. 'OK, Miss Brooks, I knew about everything... the kids told me to remain silent.'

I shrugged.

Berman had given my friends passes for the whole evening until midnight. 'Tomorrow, classes will only start at 11 p.m.'

I grinned. 'Cool!'

Mindy and Firewire apologised for their previous impossible demeanour.

Even Rebecca hugged me a happy birthday. She was trying out for Drake's band. She had been granted that wish by Drake in turn for supporting me against Chuck Javers.

The party made us hungry.

Fortunately, Kazu had been preparing a buffet for us. He had closed down _Sushi Rox_ early in order to prepare it.

Megan gave me some salsa.

It was her own invention.[15:3]

_Tempura rolls dipped in Megan's salsa... aw!_ I swooned.

I panted. _What a party!_

Drake smiled. 'Oh, they have just arrived...'

I wondered, 'who has arrived?'

Megan told me to turn my head around.

Craig and Eric stood in the entrance.

Stacey stormed towards her beloved Eric and smooched him recklessly. 'Aw my sweetie...'

I hugged Craig briefly.

Drake grinned. 'OK, time for a dance.'

I gasped. _I was going to dance with Craig?_ I was hit by waves of excitement, blushing and fainting withing seconds.

Craig wore the tuxedo suit from prom night.

Alas, I was still wearing my street outfit.

Dustin and Megan giggled. They opened a suitcase containing my prom gown.

Drake commanded, 'Megan, go and help Zoey change clothes!'

Megan nodded solemnly and dragged me away.

* * *

The party went on.

Dancing with Craig wasn't uncool.

I had hardly seen him since junior prom.

Drake and Megan even played _Beautiful Dreamer_ for us.

* * *

Beautiful dreamer, out on the sea  
Mermaids are chanting the wild lorelie;  
Over the streamlet vapors are borne,  
Waiting to fade at the bright coming morn.  
Beautiful dreamer, beam on my heart,  
Even as the morn on the streamlet and sea;  
Then will all clouds of sorrow depart,  
Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!

* * *

I swooned when guided slowly across the stage floor by Craig.

My best birthday... ever!

* * *

**Chapter 16 First Wedding Preparations**

* * *

One of the following evening, I sat alone on the veranda of their new home. She whistled a merry tune.

Drake saw her. 'Oh, hi, I've already been looking for you.'

I looked up. 'Hi!'

Drake sighed. 'Lola and I...'

I trembled. 'Are there problems between the two of you?'

Drake shook his head. 'I don't hope so... But she's soon turning eighteen. And then...'

I panted. 'OK, do you want to say that you're going to be serious and finally marry Lola and move in with her?'

Drake sighed. 'Ideally I want to marry her the day after your senior prom...'

I beamed. 'Great! Have you found an apartment for the two of you?'

Drake sighed. 'I'll ask around among my friends. I think you would be a great help for signing contracts and stuff...'

I nodded. 'OK, I will doublecheck before you sign anything. So, have you already told Lola?'

Drake stammered, 'somehow... we've talked on and off about marrying soon after her birthday and moving together once her school ends.'

I smiled. 'So, you basically want the same thing?'

Drake grinned. 'Certainly!'

I beamed. 'That's great! Supposedly, you need help with preparing your wedding?'

Drake confirmed, 'exactly... you could make the outfit for the couple and the bridesmaids and the groomsmen...'

I nodded. 'Of course. You can count on me.'

Drake hugged me. 'You're a perfect step-sister, and the best best friend of a bride ever...'

I felt flattered. 'Do you want me as a maid of honour?'

Drake sighed. 'Lola will choose either Quinn or you. In the case of Quinn, Josh would be my best man.'

I nodded. 'That sounds fair. But if it's me?'

Drake grinned. 'I've watched you and Craig...'

I blushed.

Drake chuckled. 'Come on. At your junior prom, it may have been an emergency solution. I've seen the two of you dancing there, and I've seen you dancing again at your birthday party.'

I fainted. _Drake must have watched very carefully..._

Drake explained, 'the more time Eric and Stacey spend dating, the more will Craig need you. And you do give inexperienced boys a chance, which is very rare today.'

I looked aghast. 'I do?'

Drake continued, 'remember Jeff Norkin?[16:1]'

I stammered, 'which devil old you...'

Drake replied, 'The little dust devil...'

I understood. 'Aw Dustin,' moaned I, 'yeah, it's true. But I was in seventh grade. I was the popular girl, he was totally timid, yet always dreaming about being kissed by me. But that's long past ...'

Drake agreed solemnly. 'But you are still the same good old Zoey. Or so says Dustin.'

I fainted.

Drake ruffled my hair playfully, making her giggle. 'Still, I prefer Josh over Craig as a best man. But that's just me. Lola is ultimately up to choosing.'

I nodded. 'OK, I'm going to make a check list for organising your wedding.'

'One thing,' added Drake, 'when you were new at _Pacific Coast Academy_, you had such a bubbly best friend ... she was totally obsessed with me...'

I gasped, 'Nicole Bristow? You remember her?'

Drake nodded. 'I remember when she jumped at me... But actually, Lola has mentioned her on occasions. We wanted to get her for your birthday party, but we dd not know how to find her that fast without telling you and spoiling the surprise.'

I was totally excited. 'Aw, I miss her sometimes. Especially now when you tell me... Of course, I understand that you and lola want her at your wedding. I would have died from joy.'

Drake nodded gleefully. 'Well, let's go and look for her again.'

I smiled. 'I have changed my cellular phone ever since, and my address book went down the drain. But her dad runs the greatest juice factory of Kansas.[16:2]'

Drake beamed. 'We will get thirsty at our wedding... the heck we will...'

I continued. 'Let's go through the web site of the board of juice vendors.'

Drake high-fived with I.

Megan came slouching downstairs.

I called Megan over.

Megan arrived at the veranda. 'Hi I! Hi boob!'

Drake ruffled Megan's hair playfully. 'I tell you. I've missed you calling me like that during my last tours...'

Megan shrugged. 'OK, what's up?'

I explained, 'Drake and Lola are going to marry, and we need someone to play the bridal chorus from Wagner's _Lohengrin_.'

Megan chuckled. 'Boob? You really want me to play?'

Drake sighed. 'We can't afford a real orchestra...'

Megan pouted.

I corrected, 'hey! Megan plays very well...'

Megan grinned. 'I may get Dustin to sing along, but we need to practise together.'

I smiled. _Were they just looking for a good reason to be together alone?_

Megan waved at us in order to escape.

Drake smiled. 'Megan and Dustin spend a lot of time together. That's wonderful.'

I agreed. 'So... let me find Nicole!'

* * *

With Quinn's help, I've been studying the list of juice vendors.

Quinn had to remember someone else. 'I wonder about Dana. Is she still in France?'

I fainted. I had never really forgotten about Dana. But I was embarrassed. 'You think we should find her, too?'

Dana and Nicole had been at each other's throat.

But choosing one over the other would have been rude.

Alas, it was not going to be easy to find her.

Wait! Lola had arrived after Dana's departure only.

Ok, there was no reason for Lola to invite Dana.

But I wondered about my ex-roomie, anyways.

Quinn had finnally spotted _Bristow Juices_.

I also looked at the prices for delivery of large amounts of drinks.

Fortunately, we did not have to save too much.

The reason: Malcolm Reese had decided to sponsor the wedding of Drake and Lola as an event of Hollywood's public interest.

This arrangement came apparently with a downside, as well:

The atmosphere was going to be stressy.

I wanted to talk to Quinn about Lola's upcoming choice of the maid of honour.

Quinn sighed. 'It isn't easy. Now Stacey wants to be in the wedding, too...'

I wondered, 'Lola has always treated her like dirt.'

Quinn sighed. 'That's true. But I've threatened them to get along or to do their science class projects without my help. It was so annoying... '

I understood that. 'That would mean Eric being in the whole business, too.'

Quinn nodded. 'But as long as Eric and Stacey are by each other's side, not much bad will happen.'

I smiled. _My birthday party had proved that true._ 'Yeah, it won't be that bad...'

Quinn replied, 'but Josh will still be Drake's favourite as a best man.'

I nodded solemnly.

* * *

I was done with government classes and ready to check my mailbox. What did I see?

There was a message from Nicole!

I was totally excited. _Call her back — soon!_

There were ten minutes left until gym classes.

I decided not to try.

But my heart started hitting like a steam-driven sledge-hammer.

* * *

I typed a long string of digits.

'Nicole Bristow... are you a cute boy? I hope that you are. For otherwise I would have to...'

I gasped. 'Sorry, I'm a girl...'

Nicole pouted. 'Ouch!'

I continued. 'Zoey Brooks...'

Nicole squealed like a fury. 'Zoey!'

It took a few minutes for Nicole to calm down.

I smiled. 'OK... Lola is going to marry, and we want you to be there.'

Nicole squealed again. 'Whoah! Will there be cute boys at the wedding?'

I nodded solemnly. 'But of course!'

Nicole jumped up and down with excitement.

Either that, or her heart was bouncing between floor and ceiling, and any of the surrounding walls.

Well, we needed to come back to that topic at some later point.

* * *

Drake was not necessarily pleased by Stacey's wish of being an attendent. On the other hand, he was unable to uninvite his friend Eric.

This would have been particularly rude in virtue of Craig's rôle.

Drake sighed. 'Nicole was also a great friend of Lola, was she?'

I nodded solemnly. 'You want her as a bride's maid?'

Drake shrugged. 'With an appropriate groomsman...'

I chuckled. 'Nicole would be happy with any cute boy... There are some in your band, aren't there?'

Drake smiled. 'I can't judge a boy's cuteness as well as a girl can.' I could not contradict. 'Lola would be really worried about you.'

Drake chuckled.

I added, 'by the way, it takes a lot to put up with Nicole's bubbly demeanour.'

Drake gasped. 'Hey! I might know the right one...'

I choked.

Drake explained, 'my friend Trevor[16:3]! He's really bubbly for a boy.'

I shrugged. 'OK, I might send a picture of him to Nicole.'

Drake agreed.

That sounded great.

But there were still many things left to do until the wedding...

* * *

**Chapter 17 Last Chances**

* * *

Two years ago, the team of the _Pacific Coast Academy_ had failed in the state finale because of the suspension of Vincent Blake.

Alas, this year, they made it that far again.

And it was going to be the last chance for our team.

Quarterbacks like Vince Blake did not exactly grow on quarterback trees.

Was there even such a thing?

Quinn Pensky had already invented so many plants, including some banapple tree.[17:1]. She could have easily invented a quarterback tree.

But her inventions tended to fail at first glance.

I did not want an even worse version of Vince Blake.

Bear with it!

The main problem was of course, simply said, the most Vincent Blake's most likely reaction to losing the match.

Whom was he going to blame in the case of a failure?

Of course Chase was already prepared for saying his last prayers.

Ashley Blake had already insinuated something like that on various occasions.

Addie Singer was totally worried. She had been threatened over and over by the little diva.

* * *

Talking about Quinn...

This year, it was also her last chance to win the state science fair.

She was an utter genius, but she used toi fail for so many stupid reason.

Her banapple aforementioned banapple tree looked and smelled nicely.

But its fruits were extremely acidic, burning through metals.

Then she had been excluded from the science club by Firewire. She had forced her way back into the club by destroying Firewire's war robot, using her own invention, a laser cannon.[17:2]

But it had been too late for that year's science fair.

And then she had been inventing some strange bacteria, causing an accident and getting us quarantined for a whole day.[17:3]

The following year had been the most frustrating of all.

Quinn's anti-gravity chamber had been a failure.

"Paige Howard" had repaired it in front of her eyes, making her depressive.[17:4]

Also, a liquid torch blew up violently for no apparent reason.[17:5]

Quinn had tried to submit a project about laser surgery, especially eye lasering.[17:6]

Unfortunately, laser surgery was illegal without credentials from a med school.

This had caused another science fair go down the drain.

This year, she was desperately looking for a project worthy of her.

Josh wanted to help her.

But this would have been against the rules.

Josh was slightly too old for that matter.

* * *

I was sitting in our lounge, waiting for Dustin and Megan.

Alas, Rebecca came to me.

I wondered, 'have you got a messege for Drake? I will tell him!'

Rebecca shook her head. 'My voice is not good enough for a vocal rôle in his band. Or so I've figured.' She sighed with despair.

I remarked, 'you're a cheerleader. I'm dern sure... You will be a good dancer for a band like Drake's. He hasn't yet found a great dancer. Thus he tries to do without stage dancing. But he has always thought it cool.'

Rebecca sighed. 'That might be my last chance...'

I would not have said it that directly.

But there was a lot of truth in Rebecca's words.

Rebecca continued, 'are you still designing fashion?'

I nodded solemnly. 'from time to time... yes, I do.'

She grinned. 'I've applied as a model at _Bloomstale_'s[17:7]...'

I shrugged. 'You would certainly be a great supermodel.'

Rebecca felt flattered. 'I hope so... but I've noticed something... they are also looking for a new fashion designer.' SDhe glared at me in a suggestive manner.

I shivered. I had not yet given that option much of a thought.

My parnts had always expected me to make a bright career as a lawyer or a corporate officer.

Maybe I had what it takes to do so.

But then again...

There were things causing much more fun.

One of them was fashion design.

Rebecca's idea was simple.

I should design something for Rebecca to present to _Bloomstale_'s. I had to think about it.

Maybe this was my last chance to show dad what I really wanted to do.

I had to hurry up.

But there was something else to be reported by Rebecca.

The busty half-latina explained, 'you know, I'm a cheerleader. And I will be in the cheerleading squad for the great football match.'

I nodded solemnly. 'Not much of a surprise!'

Rebecca continued, 'Mandy Franklin, Trisha Kirby, Maria Hughes, and Sarah Kyla will be the others.'

I nodded solemnly.

Of course, Mandy and Trisha were going to be a big problem for me.

Rebecaca confirmed that, reporting, 'Mandy and Trisha always talk about doing bad things to Chase for his perverse treason. Maria and Sarah like Chase, they would not hurt him. But the others...'

I moaned, 'they are so...' I did not find any suitable words for them.

Rebecca had to leave me alone.

I was glad about the possibility of dealing with Rebecca in a normal manner.

This was not a given for an old nemesis.

Talking about nemesis...

Mindy Crenshaw had made her way into the very same lounge. She grinned mischievously.

I shuddered with disgust. 'Have you come plagiarising again?'

Mindy grinned sadistically. 'Hey, why do you think that?'

I grunted, 'because you have been mean all your life... to Drake, to me, to Josh, you have abused Megan shamelessly for your lowly purposes,...'

Mindy chuckled mercilessly. 'Aw, you don't know what I did to Dustin, four years ago?' She whistled in a seductive manner.

I coughed._She did what? To Dustin?_ I was close to throwing up.

Mindy smiled. 'Oh, you would not want to know... He has sure enjoyed a real girl's supreme attention a lot.' She cackled with a prenetrating glee upon stressing the words _real girl_.

I was infuriated. I did not notice her exclusive intentions of just playing with my protective feelings.

Everything was invented.

Dustin had not even met her back when she was enrolled at _Pacific Coast Academy_, just seen from afar.

Along came Megan and Dustin.

I was still so upset by Mindy's fake confession. I grabbed Megan and Dustin in order to avoid more incidents of the aforementioned sort.

We darted out faster than light beams.

* * *

Home sweet home...

Dustin had finally unveiled Mindy's statement as mere fantasy.

Megan calmed me down. 'Mindy likes playing with other people's feelings.'

I sighed deeply.

Dustin smiled. 'But she is pretty, nothing withstanding.'

Megan glared jealously.

Drake came downstairs. 'OK, Rebecca told me something about new some new outfit for our band. She will be a model for that. She also wants to become a dancer in my band.'

I nodded solemnly. 'OK, I might apply as a fashion designer for _Bloomstale_. But don't let our parents know about it...' I fainted.

Drake shrugged. 'It's OK for me. Rebecca is a cheerleader. She will be fine as a dancer, much better than a singer.'

I agreed wholeheartedly.

Drake walked closer. 'Does the thing _Bloomstale_ excite you a lot?' He must have heard my heart beating while talking about that potential opportunity.

I nodded and moaned, 'sure!'

Drake calmed me down. 'I was excited before my first public performance, subbing for Devon Malone.[17:8] And then before my first record conrtract with _Spin City_.[17:9]'

I sighed anxiosly.

Drake hugged me. 'You're my perfect step-sister. You will do it, no matter what.'

I snickered.

Megan and Dystin huggled me, too, secure in the knowledge of my superior skills as a fashion designer.

The door bell rang out.

Drake dared to open. 'The Creature!' He froze for consternation.

Mindy Crenshaw stepped in. She grinned sadistically.

Drake grunted, 'what do you want?'

Mindy's penetrant smile made me nervous.

Megan faced Mindy with grin determination, 'don't ever dare to get too close to Dustin, or else...'

'Is the little bugger trying to threaten me,' wondered Mindy. She kept on cackling satanically.

I wanted to let Megan stay out of the trouble.

Mindy continued, 'so you really want to apply for a job of _Bloomstale_'s? Forget it! You haven't even got the gutrs to sell your skills. Recently, a fashion label from New York City has employed a high-school kid as a vice president for young fashion.[17:10] You could do even much better by appropriate marketing of your skills.'

I glared aghast.

Mindy boomed, 'you will never get far enough. After leaving your school again, I started selling your backpacks over the interweb, over and over, including some other of your designs.'

I looked aghast.

Mindy's diabolic laughter went trembling through the house.

She continued, 'so... the money was frozen on an account, but now we are adults. There it is. You may need it in order to convincer your parents of your independence.' She handed me a paycheck.

My eyes bugged out.

'20k bucks?' I slumped onto the couch.

Dustin was worried.

Mindy smiled. 'OK, I'll sell your skills at _Bloomstale_'s, and you will just watch. OK?'

I was flabbergasted.

Megan and Dustin had a hard time believing it.

I believed in dreaming.

Megan had to pinch me in order to prove me awake.

Mindy continued, 'oh, there's something else...'

I sighed deeply._She was always up to surprising people..._

Mindy chuckled. 'You know, Firewire wants to participate in the science fair, but I can't help him. Likewise, Quinn...'

I nodded.

Mindy concluuded, 'OK, gfet them to work together on something. That will make them win any science fair.'

I choked hard. _After years of mutual hatred| That was going to mean serious troubles. But it was their last chance..._

Drake had to hurry up. 'I need to practice with the cheerleaders for the football match. See you!'

I waved at Drake before starting to go to talk about details with Mindy Crenshaw.

* * *

The football match was on.

The opponent was _Lincoln High_[17:11], the hardest team of California.

Our cheerleaders were busily chanting and cartwheeling to Drake's guitar performance.

Of course, _Lincoln_ had its own cheerleaders. They were also stuffed with titans measuring more than seven foot and bulging muscles bigger than Quinn's brain.

The match was pretty close.

Vince Blake, Weissman[17:12], Comisar[17:13], Logan Reese, Duke Blatzberg, Corey Matthews, and a bunch of other brainless jocks did their best. They were even about to win.

Only one quarter was left to go.

The adversary's coach appeared to send a new player into the match.

The guy wore a pich-black helmet.

Instead of a name, his player's jersey read, 'Critical Danger — Keep Out!'

Was that a good thing?

Our team was not intimidated.

But the critical danger guy roughed them up and mowed them down.

Duke Blatzberg was most consternated. He was the toughest guy of our defense. He had never been run over by anyone before "Critical Danger".

But the mystery tank ran over him like thrice a minute.

One second left...

_Lincoln_ scored a touchdown.

It was again the strange guy.

Finally, the adversaries won by two points.

We were disappointed.

Vincent Blake was mightily upset.

His mood stank up the atmosphere for several miles.

Finally, the mystery player was unmasked by his comrades.

I was consternated when noticing, 'that's no guy at all, it is... Dana Cruz!' _She had often been nicked to __danger__. That should not have surprised me!_

Dana thundered, 'Wait, Blatzberg! You won't escape!'

Duke Blatzberg feared for his life. He was incredibly strong, but too slow to get run away from Dana's wrath.

Dana reached Blatzberg, grabbed him violently, and kissed him without warning. 'OK, that's what I wanted to do during the last minutes of the match, but that dern helmet and faceguard...'

Duke blushed, twitched and stammered. But he could not resist the charm of the attractive jockette.

I laughed my hindside off.

Vince had had the intention of beating up Chase and Addie, but now he was even more mad at Blatzberg. Alas, he did not dare to mess with unstoppable Dana Cruz.

* * *

Mindy Crenshaw kept her promises. She boldly negotiated some record contracts for me and Rebecca.

I was totally astonished, feeling compelled to hug yet another former fatal nemesis.

Mindy's cellular phone rang. 'Mindy Crenshaw... hi, sweetie...'

It was apparently Firewire.

Quinn and Forewire had just returned from a science fair.

Mindy grinned. 'Cheers! You're the best!' She explained, 'Quinn and Firewire have won with a new sort of special cloth...'

I shrugged.

Mindy promised, 'you will design fashion using this cloth, and...'

I understood.

Mindy was able to make money from all sorts of dirt, it seemd.

I preferred her now as a new friend rather than an old enemy, anyways.

* * *

**Chapter 18 Lola's Family Tree**

* * *

My senior prom was approaching at the speed of light.

Lola and Drake had decided on coupling the prom weekend with his wedding celebrations.

Well, Malcolm Reese had a lot to say, too.

I was a bit dismayed by the fact of such a personal invent being basically nothing but a promotional gig for Malcolm Reese's products.

But it was Lola's and Drake's wedding.

Thery were totally OK with it.

Thus I had to accept it.

* * *

And no earlier than the begin of the week ending with the prom did Lola reveil me as her maid of honour.

This, of course, increased my excitement to no end.

It also made Craig Ramirez best man at their wedding.

I was thus doomed to open the wedding ball with Craig.

Of course I was done designing the wedding dresses before that point.

The difference between the gowns for the bridal maids and that for the maid of honour was just some detachable ornation.

The same applied to the groom's guys and the best man.

This was thus no big problem.

But there were a few things I had come to know during the last weeks leading up to the prom.

And those were not really pleasant at all.

* * *

Malcolm Reese had invested an insane amount of bucks into Lola's and Drake's wedding. Even more, he paid them a honeymoon trip around the world: Rome, Paris, Rio De Janeiro, Tokyo, and so on.

Drake did not have to look at all for a suitable apartment for himself and Lola.

Malcolm provided him with one.

And it was more than just an apartment, much more...

Truth told, Malcolm had donated them a really big estate.

And I knew that one:

It was the summer residence of the Reese family, located near Santa Barbara![18:1]

I was flabbergasted when hearing those news. _Shouldn't Logan have inherited the estate?_

After all, my impression was that of Malcolm treating Drake like a son in law.

Mr. Reese had virtually adopted Lola and partly disowned Logan.

But when and why did this start?

I needed to investigate.

* * *

Megan suggested me to interrogate Chaunsey, the faithful butler of the Reese family. She suggested tickle torture.

This wasn't exactly my style.

I needed to be more careful.

Alas, down to her former friendship with Ashley, Megan was able to provide me with some potentially valuable hints.

Ashley had started working for the company of Malcolm Reese at quite some early age. She was as old as Dustin.

This knowledge allowed me to calculate that she must have started being familiar with the Reese clan about the time of my arrival at _Pacific Coast Academy_.

This was quite some impressive era.

I had a hard time remembering the days before my life at the _Pacific Coast Academy_.

Megan had learned about Logan having always felt neglected by his dad.

Apparently, Malcolm would have wanted a son or daughter in the likeness of his first wife, some Hollywood starlet of the seventies.

Logan had never had the diligence for becoming an actor. He only thought of it as a way of impressing girls, but he was nowhere near patient enough for the business.

I had come to learn about this the hard way — during my first year at the _Pacific Coast Academy_, upon some school play[18:2].

Also, Ashley and Logan were very close by now.

But since when had this been the case?

* * *

I had a meeting wiuth Chaunsey in the frame of wedding preparations. Upon this occasion, I started talking about the problem.

Chaunsey was — of course — not going to part easily with family secrets.

But by dropping some bits and pieces learned from Megan, I achieved to get the staunch butler to reveil quite a bit.

Chaunsey admitted, 'I don't know how, but Malcolm's first wife was not just quite a bit like Lola Martinez, she was...'

I gasped when I heard the name of Malcolm's first wife.

She had died early.

But I remembered her name not just from old movies, but from a list of Lola's ancestry. I had tried to gather a family tree of the bride. This way, I had stumbled upon the same person, apparently some cousin of Lola's mother. And now I felt like hit right between my eyes by some huge meterorite dropping out of the clear blue sky. Thus I needed a break.

We moved onward to discussing the arrangements for the wedding banquet.

* * *

Back at home, I started discussing my discovery with Megan.

Many questions emerged.

When did Malcolm discover the relationship between his deceased first wife and Lola Martinez?

Did Lola know about these extraordinarily stunning circumstances?

There were many possibilities with different consequences.

The family tree, as already mentioned, was a wedding gift, and thought as a surprise for Lola.

I did not have the guts to spoil it for my best friend.

On the other hand, waiting until after the wedding was going to leave me with an increasingly creepy feeling. It had the potential of making me flunk my tasks as a maid of honour.

This, of course, would have been embarrassing for Drake, Lola, and Reese Inc.

Even Megan was clueless about what to do. She did not want to interrogate Ashley.

Things between Megan and Ashley had gone a bit awry during the last two years.

Megan could not really answer the question about Logan's and Ashley's mutual affection. She had been surprised by their confidential talks during my junior year. But she tried to piece some clues together.

Ashley had once been talking about some supercute son of some influential Hollywood giant. But she had never given away too much about that.

Megan remembered, 'Ashley had mentioned him like... three years ago.'

I sighed.

This was more or less the time of my trip to Logan's summer residence, along with most of my friends.

This lead me back to the question:

Did Malcolm know about the connection between his first wife and Lola?

Did Lola know?

Had Malcolm invited us properly in order to see a promising relative of his deceased love, or, at least, in order to check rumours about such a connection?

I tried to remember hard about her first reactions towards the news of Logan being the son of a famopus Hollywood producer, Malcolm Reese.

This had been upon her arrival at _Pacific Coast Academy_, almost four years ago.

She did had not demonstrated any signs of being familiar with Logan Reese and his family.

But, wait!

Lola had already been one very convincing actress. She was certainly able to feign complete ignorance about the whole "Reese connection". Oh yeah, she went even far enough to feign to deny any knowledge of Malcolm Reese.

Such a fact would have been surprising.

Any actor or actress looking forward to a career at Hollywood was familiar with the names of the most important producers, including, beyond any trace odf a doubt, Malcolm Reese.

Megan had been following my thoughts up to there. She concluded, 'you want to say that Lola knew about that certain connection, and she had tried to feign ignorance? Whom did she want to fool?'

Dustin stumbled into us. 'Hi!'

Megan urged me to tell him about my discoveries and speculations.

Dustin almost fainted. He had stopped being a friend of Logan long since, but he was still worried about one thing. He groaned, 'have you never thought about Logan's feelings?'

I gasped.

Of course, we girls had only thought about Lola.

But what about Logan's knowledge concerning the "connection" between his dad and Lola's family?

Well, unlike Lola, Logan had been a miserable actor. He could only act as a total jerk.

I tried to think of his reactions towards Lola's arrival at our school.

He had not seen in Lola more than one of many wannabe Hollywood actresses.

And there were more than just a few of them at our school.

We concluded, 'Logan had not been aware of such a special connection at that point.'

But he may have recognised them ever since. And he was unlikely to have reacted nicely to such a revelation. He had always been such a jerk, but...

Dustin suggested us to talk to Lola's dad.

I shrugged.

As reported, the "connection" was between Malcolm and the mother's side of Lola's family.

But it was worth a try.

* * *

Of course I had to talk about certauin things with the bride's dad, anyways.

Juan Martinez had not been fairly familiar with his wife's family tree.

For my research, I had drawn my informations from some specialised interweb sites about genealogy.

But Juan mentioned, 'sending Lola to _Pacific Coast Academy_ was largely the idea of my wife, or, rather, her family. They had been loosely in contact with Malcolm Reese.'

Supposing my speculations to be anywhere near accurate, this was not much of a surprise.

I wondered, 'OK, the question may be embarrassing, so it could upset you. So, stopme in the case of being too curious. Did you get some partial support for the tuition fees from Macolm Reese?'

Juan choked, 'OK, you're right it, was partly paid by some foundation of alumni...'

I nodded.

Malcolm Reese was a member of the board of sponsors and the alumni, probably the most influential among them. As per my speculaions, he had used his significant position in order to lure Lola to the _Pacific Coast Academy_.

But what were his motivations for all of his efforts?

Juan sighed. 'It was a big chance for Lola, with or without the "connection" between the families. Knowing about it would not have changed my mind.'

I agreed wholeheartedly. 'The _Pacific Coast Academy_ is doubtlessly a great chance for kid, with or without the vicinity to Hollywood.'

My principal concern was the possibility of Lola getting drawn into something beyond her abilities to handle.

Also, Logan's possible, no, definitely present, envy was causing me headaches.

I thanked Juan on my way out.

* * *

Megan and Dustin had been awaiting me anxiously.

I was, of course, ready to report about my conversations with Juan Martinez.

Alas, even before the end of my story, Megan and Dustin confrinted me with their own speculations.

Dustin explained, 'Malcolm wanted Lola to like Logan, and vice versa.'

I gasped.

Megan chuckled.

Of course, this would have reconnected Malcolm to his deceased wife's family in some prettily elegant manner.

Judging from Lola's and Logan's story here at the _Pacific Coast Academy_, Malcolm Reese's great plan had gone horribly awry.

But this did not prevent Malcolm from going a further step and honour Lola with parts of his fortune. And that's where we were.

Dustin trembled in anticipation of Logan's wrath.

Megan shivered in anticipation of Ashley's evil revenge. 'Ashley must have felt consternated by Malcolm's attention towards Lola Martinez. She has always deemed herself the greatest of al, future Hollywood stars.'

Megan's words struck my brain right down the middle.

I had really not got a clue concerning Ashley's feelings for Logan, or vice versa for that matter.

Many options were possible.

On the one hand, Ashley might have had feelings for Logan before Lola's arrival at our school. She would have watched Lola with eclatant jealousy.

On the other hand, Ashley and Logan could have been equally intimidated by Lola's arrival. Lola was deemed both as a danger for Logan's heritage and for Ashley's career. This common threat could have soldered Ashley and Logan together, with or without proper mutual affection.

* * *

I have not talked to Lola's mother about the situation.

You may wonder why.

Fact was:

Lola's mom and her dad had started to fight each other over certain things yet unbeknownst to me.

These struggles had started during or slightly before last summer break.

Lola had only told me about them during the first term of senior year. She was very insecure.

Even more, the struggles between her parents had caused her to hurry up and get married to Drake as soon as only possible.

She sided rather with her dad.

A mention of her mom by Quinn had once stunk up Lola's mood for several days.

* * *

Alas, there was one relative from Lola's motherly side in my reach: Her cousin Rebecca.

She had already helped me to some degree during my research of Lola's family tree.

I met the aspiring supermodel in the cafeteria.

She was already looking forward to Lola's wedding. In addition, she was going to present the wedding gown at a fashion fair.

I asked her about our discoveries and speculations.

Of course, I had to be equally careful.

But Rebecca did not hesitate admitting to some knowledge. 'It makes more than just a bit sense... I'm as related to Malcolm Reese's first wife as is Lola.'

I nodded.

She continued, 'Malcolm may have chosen me instead of Lola. I had been dreaming of Hollywood, too, the big screen, not just commercials for bras and stockings... But Lola is older by one or two years, closer to Logan's age...'

I sighed. 'Would you have liked Logan, in Lola's situation?'

Rebecca admitted, 'probably... I would not have flunked as much as Lola had done. A hot guy and son of a big producer, hello! No sane girl could deliberately turn that down.'

I coughed and choked. 'Hey!'

Rebecca was sorry. 'I mean, I certainly wouldn't, it was my big dream... Alas, when Chase dragged me to this school, I was no longer willing to seduce Logan. After Chase's refusal to pay me, I was already so upset at Lola's whole gang...'

I sighed. 'You've probably just saved yourself from Ashley Blake's furious wrath.'

Rebecca fainted. Of course, she knew no details concerning Logan and Ashley. But, just like anyone else, she feared a possible fallout at Lola's wedding.

* * *

We were running out of time.

Senior prom and Lola's wedding had become so close.

And we were still left in the dark concerning Ashley's and Logan's plans for the wedding of Lola and Drake.

It was not unlikely for Ashley to spoil the wedding in some way or the other.

But how? A kingdom's worth for Ashley's plans!

* * *

Now we've been talking a lot about Lola's parents.

But what about Drake's dad?

Certainly, one would have expected him to be invited to his son's wedding, too.

Alas, Megan, inspite of trying hard to remember, was not able to reconstruct his destiny.

Asking Drake would have spoiled his surprise.

In addition, his memories of his dad had been fading away long since. And they were not necessarily nice memories.

Audrey had never talked to me about her first husband, the father of Drake and Megan. Did she have something to hide?

Regardless of all my frenzying worries about the upcoming wedding, I tried hard to leave Drake and Lola mentally unencumbered.

It was meant to be their greatest day.

* * *

**Chapter 19 Crazy Steve**

* * *

Helen baxter had moved her theatre from San Diego right to Hollywood.

It was still named _Première Theater_, though.

As Helen had always had a strong impact on Drake's career, she was also deeply involved in the organisation of his wedding.

I had inevitably to deal with her.

This was not easy.

She could be very choleric and ill-tempered.

Some of her co-workers had been transferred with her from San Diego.

One of them was Josh Nichols. He was now studying at Caltech and still trying to make sme bucks at the cinema.

The most important workhorse was Gavin Mitchell, a guy of about fourty years wearing black wigs.

While both of them were fairly harmless, one employee gave me totally the creeps.

He was a psychopath named "Crazy Steve", wonder why...

Well, there was no reason left for me to wonder after hevimg been yelled upon thrice a minute by the psychopath, let along getting my sushi eaten out of my hands without any warning.

I came to wondere about other things:

How had Helen Baxter been able to bear such an employee for over half a decade?

The insaner was scaring most of the customers into oblivion.

The psychopath was not always around, but I totally feared to be left alone with him.

Fortunately, Josh Nichols knew a nifty way in order to calm him down.

The trick was the song _She'll be coming around the mountain_.[19:1]

* * *

Dana Cruz, as reported, was now a student at _Lincoln High_, a high school located somewhere in Orange County. But she was visiting her new lover, Blatzberg, one a week.

This was my occasion to talk to her again.

I also wanted to introduce her to Lola. I would have loved to see her at Lola's wedding.

It was our first talk after four long years of separation.

Dana grinned. 'Hey, how was my performance?'

I coughed. 'You've really mowed them down!'

Dana grinned sadistically. 'They are just boys, and boys are weak. They think they can fight, but they can't stand much pain.'

I shrugged. _Quinn had sometimes talked about girls' increased tolerance towards pain._[_19:2_]

Dana told about her adventioures since her departure from _Pacific Coast Academy_. As opposed to our "trusted" informations, she had never been gone to Paris.[19:3] 'Hell, I just wanted to make Logan envious. I really wish to go there, though, either Paris or Milan, or maybe London. My dream is... being a model for athletic outfit.'

I coughed aloud. 'You are looking for a model's career?'

Dana beamed proudly.

I told Dana about Rebecca. 'She's one of many pupils that came hereto after your departure. She treated me badly, but we have made up. Now she's sort of my model for my hand-designed fashion. Maybe I could use some reinforcement.' I smiled.

Dana was interested.

'So, what did you do in Orange County?' asked I.

Dana explained, 'I've been born there, and my family lives there. Isn't that enough of a reason?'

I nodded. 'Should be... You have probably missed your friends...'

Dana admitted to that. 'Especiially Ashley Blake.'

I gasped. 'Ashley Blake?' I was so close to throwing up. _Dana and Ashley were friends? Or, at least, they had been at some point?_

Dana nodded. 'Yeah, the greatest of all kid actrresses, ever...'

'And the most arrogant lunatic diva,' added I. But I could have banged my head against the table, thinking, 'Dana has been deemed as very arrogant and tough in general. That's certainly one of the origins of her conflict with Nicole. Getting Dana and Nicole to reconcile for Lola's wedding was hard as it was.'

Dana grunted, 'Ashley is the way she is, and I like her for that.'

I started to lower my head, feeling to have gone way too far.

Dana continued, 'I was even Ashley's bodyguard for over a year. Then her brother Vince took over.'

I wondered, 'had Vince also been at _Lincoln High_?'

Dana nodded solemnly. 'He had been our quarterback. Then he was invited to _Pacific Coast Academy_.' She blushed when talking about Vince.

I concluded, 'did you have a crush on Vince?'

Dana admitted to that, too. 'Don't all sane girls?'

I was slightly upset.

Dana continued, 'I even wanted to go as far with him as a girl could do with a boy... some day...'

I did not want to know any further details.

Dana continued. 'Ashley tried to help me on my quest. But some day, Vince Blake was expelled from your school, for no good reason.'

I choked, thinking, 'no good reason? Cheating and bullying Chase is not considered a good reason? Does Dana even know about... but she has aways been rude to Chase. So maybe she was willing to ignore everything.' I decided to keep out of that zone.

Dana explained, 'Ashley was now keen on preparing Vince's glorious return to _Pacific Coast Academy_. Vince had to appear normal, and stuff.'

I had suspected something like that.

'A girlfriend like me would not have fitted into those plans,' remarked Dana.

I shivered, thinking 'one of my former friends justifies Vince's mean deeds inflicted upon Chase.'

It was still so infinitely hard to swallow for me.

Dana continued, 'Ashley even wanted Vince to feign being in love with one of traitor Chase's female friends...' She stammered. 'Her preferred choice was... you!'

I puked all over the floor.

This was definitely too much for my stomach.

Dana explained, 'Chase was your closest friend, if not boyfriend. Making him see you date Vince was like some thoroughly deserved capital punishment for Chase.'

I could not upkeep my concentration.

Fortunately, Drake was already nearby. He called for Dustin and Megan, and then he took me home.

* * *

Drake stayed with me when I was down. 'Don't worry, once you dance with Craig at my wedding, everything will be forgotten.'

I wished things to be that easy.

Drake did not yet know about Ashley's likely conspiracies for the wedding.

* * *

Hours later, the door bells were ringing.

Drake and the parents were out of the house.

Dustin opened the door. 'Dana? Ashley?'

I was looking for a rat's den in order to hide. _Was there any place to hide?_

Ashley commanded Dustin in her arrogant manner to let her move on to Zoey.

I shivered.

Dana told Ashley, 'come on, tell her...'

Ashley bowed. 'Sorry...'

I gasped. _Had Dana really been able to get Ashley to apologise?_

Ashley continued, 'in the beginning, I've just used Logan in order to stay close to the source of power in Hollywood. I felt Lola's possible competition, and so I needed Logan to side with me.'

I was still like petrified.

Ashley explained even more, 'Yeah, but the further I came, the more...' She blushed completely.

This reveiled her feelings for Logan.

I sighed. 'That's OK, don't worry.'

Of course, Logan was like four years older than Ashley.

At least that was the interval between Dustin and me.

But having to wait for four more years was not an essential problem for Logan and Ashley, not in the case of sufficiently strong feelings.

Whatever, I was nort going to mess with that.

In the case of an alternative between Logan and her life at Hollywood, Ashley would by now for sure have decided in Logan's favour. She was just too much of a bratty diva to admit to that.

Ashley explained, 'Logan has always hated Michael, Chase, and their friends. But his dad had forced him into befriending proletarian kids. It was better for the image of _Reese Inc._'

I choked.

Ashley admitted to having helped Logan to appear as a friend to us, inspite of deprecating us deeply. 'Logan even got himself deliberately beaten up, both by my brother and by Chuck Javers, in order to invoke your pity.'

I puked again.

Megan sighed. 'Come on, Dustin, we need to fetch some bucket, water, brooms...'

I would have wished either Dustin or Mega to stay by my side.

But it had to be.

I had one question left, 'so you've also helped Vince to get back to us?'

Ashley nodded. 'I wished him to use you or one of your friends in order to make Chase feel like crap. But by then, Lola and Quinn were taken, and Megan was too close to you to allow Vince to fool you.'

I praised Megan's supreme alertness.

Dana explained, 'Miranda Franklin, the cheerleader queen, seemed to like him. It's natural for ccheerleader queens and quarterbacks to become a couple. So I let him be, although I still deem him incredibly hot...'

Ashley ruffled Dana.

Megan and Dustin started cleaning up.

My cellular phone rang.

I picked it up. 'Zoey Brooks...'

It appeared to be Helen Baxter.

I wondered, 'Miss Baxter? What is...'

Helen explained, 'Crazy Steve needs to talk to you, alone in the cinema.'

My breath froze, 'the psychopath?'

I was insecure inspite of knowing about his weakness towards the song _She'll be coming around the mountain_.

Dana grinned. 'You need a bodyguard?'

I scratched my hair. 'Would you?'

Dana nodded solemnly.

Ashley stayed with Megan and Dustin.

* * *

Crazy Steve seemed to be in some calm phase.

But you never knew...

I sat down. 'So, what's up?'

The insaner replied, 'you're looking for Drake's father, for the wedding, don't you?'

I nodded solemnly.

Crazy Steve thundered, 'I know Drake's father!'

I trembled and panted, 'what?'

Steve yelled the same thing again.

Dana started grunting, 'we've got it!'

Of course, I wanted to know the informations.

Steve explained, 'my cousin from Seattel is also Drake's cousin...'[19:4]

I concluded, 'so... Drake and you, you've got common relatives?'

The psychopath nodded, stomping his feet.

I was probably close to finding Drake's dad.

Steve explained, 'Drake's dad is now in Venezuela. Has been... for many many years... '

I knew it to be too late for Drake's wedding.

But afterwards...

I owed it to Drake and Megan to help them find him.

Either sooner or later.

I was going to talk about it to Drake only after the whole wedding stuff.

But why did Drake not know about being related to Steve?

Maybe Helen had known something? She was now totally suspicious.

I had to investigate rigorously at any cost.

* * *

**Chapter 20 Faithful And True**

* * *

I woke up on a warm Californian spring morning.

Birds were singing like an angel's choir.

A tender breeze from the sea greeted me.

It was the day of my senior prom.

But, even more, it was the eve of Drake's and Lola's wedding.

Nicole was going to arrive on the campus, ready for being dressed as a bride's maid.

I had organised a room at the _Pacific Coast Academy_ for Nicole, and precisely in _101 Brenner Hall_, in order to stay for the weekend.

* * *

Drake took me to the airport in order to fetch Nicole.

We were right in time.

Nicole threw her arms around both of us. She was totally excited. But she was a little bit disappointed because the hottest guy of California had been claimed by Lola Martinez.

Needless to say, there were so many things to talk about with Nicole.

* * *

But before anything else, I needed to fit Nicole into her maid's gown.

Nicole was already eager on facing Trevor for the first time. 'He is cute, right?'

I nodded for the sake of peace. _Contradicting Nicole was no good._

Unfortunately, the bimbo wench was so terribly excited.

Her demeanour made it hard to fit her into the gown.

I started talking about the recent revelations concerning Lola's dad, and about Dana's visit.

Nicole was dismayed by the thought of seeing Dana again.

I had to calm her down.

Stacey Dillsen entered the dorm. She squealed.

I introduced Nicole to Stacey.

Nicole squealed and complained about Stacey's disordered hair. 'Hey, I may fix your hair for Lola's wedding!'

Stacey sighed deeply.

Nicole was going to study at a vocational college for beauticians. She wanted to become a mask artist at Hollywood.

As a result, I was now forced to fix Nicole's gown, with Nicole being about to fix Stacey's haircut at the same time.

Was that going to turn out well?

I was not completely sure.

Nicole was slightly disappointed upon hearing about Logan's increasing affinity towards Ashley Blake. She still thought of the jerk as incredibly cute. But she respected the whole thing because she had always been a total fan of Ashley. 'She's really cool! Did I already tell you how cool she is?'

I shrugged.

Nicole continued, 'I love her movies, especially _Queen Of The Kids_. That movie is eoic. Isn't the movie epic?'

I nodded once more for peace's sake.

Nicole announced. 'Maybe I will be the maid of honour at Ashley's wedding. Wouldn't that be cool? Tell me that it would be totally cool!'

I sighed. 'Probably...' _How had I been able to bear Nicole during her time at the __Pacific Coast Academy__? It was incredibly hard!_

Nicxole explined, 'I just have to be careful to avoid serving unto Ashley any green juice or lemonade, She hates green food. Isn't that exciting?'

'It is,' stammered I.

Quinn stumbled in. She threw her arms around Nicole, shifting the bimbo's gown in a way forcing me to readjust it.

I was disturbed severely by these setbacks of my efforts.

Stacey was equally bothered, fearing her fair to get never done.

* * *

I also had to adjust the tuxedo suits of Eric, Trevor, and Craig. I had been taking care of Josh's suit earlier on.

But he was horribly messy. He had worn his underwear above his tuxedo.[20:1]

I had to force him to correct that misfortune.

It was so embarrassing!

Megan had always warned me.

But I just had to give everyone some sort of a chance.

Why, oh why?

My heart beat faster while fixing Craig's tuxedo suit.

Nicole stormed in. According to her own judgment, she just had to correct the haircut of the boys.

Then she saw Trevor, jumping right into his arms and squeeling in an inane manner.

Trever smiled and beamed.

Alas, this was no good for my attempts to fix the seam of his sleeves.

I had to work on that while Nicole and Trevor kept on smooching.

Alas, having to fix Josh's, Eric's, and Craig's haircut was like capital punishment for Nicole.

The bimbo wench almost threw up. 'How uncute!'

Especially Eric Blonowitz gave her totally the creeps.

Finally, the boys' outfit was complete.

Steaming sweat billowed forth from my pours.

* * *

The hall of the prom event was now officially open.

Megan and Dustin had been working as Kazu's henchmen, i.e. serving at the buffet booth. Thus they had snuck in earlier on in order to prepare the tables.

I was now moving into the hall, right by Craig's side.

Drake and Lola, as well as Quinn and Josh, preceded us.

Eric and Stacey were a bit late.

I was slightly glad about the latter circumstance.

Quinn was going to say a few words in order to open th ball. 'OK, Drake is not going to play tonight, because he has to save his sanity for his upcoming wedding.'

Lola and Drake grinned.

The masses were flabbergasted.

Quinn continued, 'his band will perform without him, though...'

Neil, Gary, and the other band members entered the stage.

Quinn concluded, 'OK, it's open...'

The pupils cheered upon hearing the band starting to play.

Josh grabbed Quinn for a cool dance.

I danced with Craig, for the first time after my birthday party.

Unfortunately, that sort of music was not Craig's taste.

It was hardly mine.

Gary and Neil drummed liked machine guns' volleys.

Lola and Drake did not really move across the floor, they just stood there, making occasionally out.

Dustin and Megan served me some sushi chops.

I had to remind them to go to bed right in time, though. 'Tomorrow will be a demanding day, think of the wedding march!'

Megan and Dustin moaned. They had been practising a insane lot for Drake's wedding. But they did not feel yet tired.

Unfortunately, we stumbled also upon Eric and Stacey.

After all, this was not as bad as I had feared originally.

Also, Chase and Addie intervened in order to relieve me from Stacey.

Michael and Wendy, on the other hand, tried to avoid Stacey even more.

Logan and Ashley just continued some arrogant conversation.

* * *

As announced, the prom night was just the eve of the great Wedding between Drake and Lola.

I was now together with the bridal maidens and with Lola.

Basically, Lola's wedding outfit was the same as that of the prom night, with a few minor additions.

Nicole was even more excited than Lola herself. She had not been at the prom night, thus she was the only one totally fresh and awake.

Her bimbo talk exceeded any previously known limits.

Stacey had to chime in, telling some dry jokes.

Nicole did not understand them, but she had to comment on them, anyways.

Juan Martinez walked in in order to give Lola away.

* * *

The altar was right on the campus.

Dean Rivers was conducting the wedding. A few years ago, he had acquired a license to do so.

His own marriage with Tipper had gone down the drain ever since.

They were now divorced.

Dean Rivers was still in the process of recovering from this horror, and he was only partly back to his office as a headmaster of the _Pacific Coast Academy_.

But this did not prevent him from preaching unto us pupils.

Megan held her oboe tightly in her hands.

We had even pushed Michael into accompanying the couple with his flute.

There was also a cellist[20:2] and a violinist[20:3].

The music started playing.

We saw the banners fly.

Dustin and Wendy started to sing the _Bridal Chorus_ from Wagner's opera _Lohengrin_.

* * *

Faithful and true  
We lead thee forth  
Where love, triumphant,  
Shall crown ye with joy.

* * *

Juan Martinez guided his daughter down the aisle.

The elementary school kids threw fake flowers at the bride.

Chase had once been a flower girl at his uncle's wedding.[20:4] Now he was a flower girl again, upon my commands.

Willing to be by Chase's side, Addie performed the same tasks.

I was already waiting at the seat of stressed Dean Rivers.

Dustin and Wendy sang on.

* * *

Star of renown,  
Flowe'r of the arth,  
Blest be ye both far  
From all life's annoy.

* * *

I had to tie some loose end in Stacey's gown.

That was a bit annoying.

Nicole could hardly keep her bimbo mouth shut. 'Isn't Lola cute in this gown? Say that she is! I want such a gown, too, when I marry a particularly cute boy. Promise to make me such a gown!'

'I will,' stammered I.

Oops! This was not my wedding...

OK, the whole thing went on.

The groomsmen seemed to have their problems, too.

Josh wore his suit above his undergarments.

I sighed with relief.

But he twitched like an idiot.

This made Craig and Eric quite nervous.

Dustin and Wendy sang even more.

* * *

Champion victorious,  
Go thou before!  
Maid, bride and Glorious,  
Go thou before!

* * *

The couple reached us.

Dean Rivers started the usual interrogation. He was equally nervous. 'We have gathered in order to investigate some of the incidents occurring recently at this schools. It is my duty to decide on a possible suspension and expulsion of pupils involved in those incidents.'

Secretary Beverly had to remind hin, 'Sir! This is a wedding ceremony, not the school's disciplinary court!'

The headmaster coughed and choked. 'Oops, sorry!' He corrected his attire, moaning, 'next try...'

Lola was totally nervous.

Her heart slipped and plummeted with a resounding thud between her little big toes.

The headmaster started with his interrogation. 'Dost thou, Lola Martinez, will to take this honourable gentleman, Drake Parker, as thine lawfully wedded wife...'

Lola screamed, 'yeppers!' She did not even let Dean Rivers finish his clause.

I had to remind Lola, 'it is _I will_!'

Lola squealed, 'oops... OK, I will!'

Annoyed Mr. Rivers just sought to bring it on. 'Dost thou, Drake Parker, will to take this virtuous virgin, Lola Martinez, as thine lawfully wife, and and all the stuff...'

'Sure,' muttered Drake.

Craig, Josh, and Eric had to correct him as well.

Drake shrugged, 'I will... content now?'

Dean Rivers wiped some sweat off his tortured face. 'OK, in virtue of my office as the school's headmaster...' He was apparently confused again.

Beverly had to correct him.

'Now go and kiss the bride, if you can't refrain from doing so,' commanded Dean Rivers, 'may I now have my pills?'

Beverly reached her boss a glass of water and two tablets against headache and stress.

Drake did not have to await the headmaster's commands. He had wraped his arms around Lola, not ready to ever let her go.

Lola smiled sweetly.

The pupils cheered and applauded.

But now it was time to accompany the couple to the wedding party at _Première Theater_ in Hollywood.

Dustin sang a bit more.

* * *

Fragrant abode  
Enshrine ye in bliss.  
Splendor and state  
In joy ye dismiss!

* * *

Lola and Drake were not really willing to budge from their stance.

We had to grab the and push them gently towards the waitng limousine.

* * *

Helen and her gang had been ready with their preparations.

Gavin Mitchell moaned. He had performed most of the dirt work.

Helen Baxter grunted, 'hey, you lazy guys!'

Malcolm Reese and butler Chaunsey helped Drake and Lola leaving the intricately ornated limousine as gracefully as only possible.

We attendents had to do that on our own.

But this did not hurt us.

Now I was back to guiding Lola.

She was apparently hoping to be able to skip the rest of the celebrations and disappear with Drake into some dark corner.

But time had not come...

Audrey had not been on the campus, but helping Helen instead.

Dad had only bee watching from the edge of teh campus. Now he arrived in his own car.

Crazy Steve yelled at some of the wedding guests.

I was anxiously looking forward to finding Drake's dad.

And the psychopath was the key to this.

Helen gave a long sermon. She left a scary impression.

I could not avoid coming to the following uneasy conclusions:

She had always known about Crazy Steve's connection to Drake and Megan's father's side of their family. And, even more, she had been a very close confident of Malcolm Reese. She must have known totally well about Malcolm's motivations for his generous gifts for Lola and Drake!

I was really upset. But I was able to hide my anger.

It should not have done anything in order to spoil Drake's and Lola's wedding.

Finally, there were some other numbers in this wedding celebrations.

The bouquet and the garter were waiting.

Lola hurled aloft her bouquet.

Inspite of being expected expected, I did not hurry too much to catch it. I preferred Quinn to do so. _She was so totally sweet with Josh._

Megan grabbed the bunch of flowers.

I gasped. _Oh no... if Dustin grabbed the garter..._

Too late. Dustin held the bridal garter proudly aloft. Was he now going to dance with Megan?

This would have reveiled their feelings to the public, and especially to Audrey, making her go insane.

I tried to talk desperately to Helen, 'isn't there a minimun age of sixteen in order to...'

The cinema's owner gasped. 'Maybe? I don't really know... no, I don't really think there's such a rule. Malcolm, do you...'

The king of Hollywood shrugged helplessly.

Fortunately, Megan stepped up to me. 'Take the bouquet! It's really yours!'

Likewise, Dustin offered the garter unto Craig.

I choked. _But maybe it was the one and only way in order to avoid scandalous consequences..._ I thanked Megan profusely and accepted the gift, and I sighed with extreme relief.

After all, it was now my task to open the dance with Craig.

Chase and Addie had written a dance for me and Craig, using a tune by Michael and Wendy, a mixture between Craig's folk tunes and my hip hop style.

We danced along as well as we could.

Craig made me feel more and more comfy by his side, the more often we danced together.

Yet we were not really dating, not in nowaday's commonly familiar sense of the word.

Josh was now leading Quinn to the dance.

Eric did the same with Stacey, in their ususually quirky manner.

And finally, Nicole and Trevor sweept everyone off the dancing floor with their unexpected improvisation.

The day went along smoothly.

Even Ashley and Logan behaved decently.

I was now deadly tired.

Unfortunately, Lola and Drake could not yet move into their new common home.

According to Chaunsey, it was not yet ready. 'The servants have to repair and improve a few things, the usual...'

I nodded solemnly.

Lola was going to continue living regularly on the campus until the official graduation, anyways.

But we were already anticipating the moment of Drake carrying Lola across the doorstep...

z

* * *

**Chapter 21 Across The Doorstep**

* * *

Finally, it was the day of Drake's and Lola's first step into their new home, formerly the summer residence of the Reese clan in Santa Barbara county.

Malcolm had ordered one of his limousines to take the couple there.

Unlike Lola Martinez, Drake had never seen that estate before.

Drake was excessively excited.

I had to readjust his clothes thrice.

The yellow press was waiting all the way from uptown LA to Santa Barbara county, forcing us to be very careful.

* * *

Dustin, Megan, and I, we were accomodated in the same limousine, but a different cabin than the young couple. We were needed in order to help them with their first steps into their new home.

But during the limousine ride, I had to think stromngly about Drake's father, or, rather, Crazy Steve's revelations about the same. In addition, I had to phone Quinn and Stacey, talking them into helping us.

High school was over.

All my pals were now leaving the _Pacific Academy_ into various directions.

Quinn was accepted to Caltech in Pasadena, hence joining her fiancé Josh. But she needed to return to Seattle in order to see alpaca Otiz[21:1] again.

Stacey was going to some vocational college for construction trades in the greater LA area in order to become a carpenter. She was firmly dedicated to this goal, against her father's — a carpenter — resistence.[21:2]

Eric had applied at the very same school for classes in electronic equipment installation and repair. He was very versatile installing elctronic devices.[21:3]

Alas, I was not willing to let them do the whole installation of Drake's and Lola's new home unsupervised and single-handed.

Some inner voice warned me strongly against doing so.

Of course, Michael and Chase were also ready to help Lola on the move.

I expected them to have written a new song for Lola's and Drake's new home.

Michael and Wendy were going to stay as composers of Drake's band.

Wendy even went to a camp in New Jersey in order to hone her skills as a future music producer.[21:4]

Chase was not sure. He wanted to go to the broadway, along with his Addie.

But this was going to be a stony way.

* * *

We exited our limousine.

Chaunsey was already awaiting us. He bowed.

Time had come for Drake to pick Lola and carry her across the doorstep.

Along with Dustin and Megan, I was walking close by their side in order to inervene, just in case.

Lola smiled with excessive glee when she was carried in Drake's arms.

We arrived at the official door.

Chaunsey took the keys in order to unlock the entrance.

I grabbed the handle. Looking around, I was able to direct Drake into the right direction.

The mansion had not really changed much since our visit hereto in order to shoot the pilot of _Gender Defenders_.

More than three whole years had gone by ever since.

I stood at the veranda, feeling a gentle breeze approaching.

In this place, Chase had once accidentally sent me an SMS, properly destined to Michael. He explained his reluctance to tell me about his feelings, fearing my reactions.

Of course, I would never have treated him rudely for being honest.

Too bad, Chase stole my tek-mate, a beefed-up cellular phone, in order to delete the misguided SMS.

This had caused some trouble between us.

And then Chase resorted to the old jealousy-making trick.

Granted, Lola had talked him into doing so.

But I was over it.

After all, our string of severe misundrstandings would have made us impossible as a couple.

I returned into the lobby.

We were now quite some group, gathered in order to help the young couple.

Eric and Stacey joined us in that moment.

Stacey had built a cotton swab model of the mansion.

It was a goft for Drake and Lola.

I needed to urge Lola to accept it.

Stacey told us a lot about the architecture of the whole thing. She knew what woods to use for a mansion like this, and where to get them.

Her lecture was a bit boring.

Eric talked about the problems of installing all those modern devices in such a mansion. He actually repaired, or fine-tuned, a few of the things in the mansion.

Drake had not yet brought all of his things to his new home.

This was going to happen step by step.

Stacey and Eric were looking forward to some work.

I was not totally at ease with that thought.

But Drake trusted Eric.

And it was finally Drake's and Lola's home, not mine.

The bell rang again.

Eric told me brashly to open.

I was annoyed. _How could he dare to..._ But I did so, anyways.

Craig stood in the door frame.

My eyes bugged out.

My heart beat like a salvo of nuclear bombs.

Apparently, Eric and Craig had agreed on that.

I had always thought them to be totally naïve. But I heard Megan giggle in a corner.

Dustin whistled innocently.

They had apparently arranged something with Eric's help.

Dustin wanted me to kiss Craig on site.

But I had a better Idea. I grabbed Craig gently and dragged him to the veranda.

Old memories of an unfortunate SMS were now going to be buried in the past forever.

This was thitherfrom the place of my first real kiss with Craig Ramirez.

A bunch of boldly curious onlookers glared at us and applauded.

Stacey dropped her cotton swabs in the process.

Eric had a hard time gathering them.

I chuckled. _Couldn't those freaks mind their own business, instead?_

We were nowhere near as "smoochy-kissy" as Drake and Lola.

Finally, we broke up, against the wishful thoughts of a bunch of melting teenagers and young adults.

Why had Malcolm Reese not shown up?

This was strange, given how much he had kept talking about significance the whole thing beforehand.

According to Chaunsey, the big boss was still in town for some purpose.

Hence we were still expecting him.

But the paparazzi were loitering everywhere.

I hated that useless bunch.

Fortunately, Megan had got a cool idea.

At least I could infer that from her strange posture.

Megan sent Dustin away with a tek-mate.

I tried to talk some of the photographers into stepping out of Eric's and Stacey's way.

The attempt failed miserably.

Suddenly, Megan's cellular phone rang.

She picked it up. 'Residence Martinez-Parker... hello...' She feigned an astonished gasp. 'Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom are doing what?... Are you sure?'

Some of the paparazzi were flabberghasted. 'Miranda and Orlando? Who had expected that?'

Megan continued, 'and you've followed them to _Chambrolay_'s in Santa Monica? Oh, yeah, I won't tell antone... _President Suite_, right?'

The paparazzi left the estate in no time. None of them wanted to be late for covering a big scandal going on in Santa Monica.

Finally, only friends and family were left.

Of course, Megan had made up the rumours about Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr. She chuckled mercilessly. 'Those boobarazzi are dumber than Drake and Josh together...'

But it had worked nicely.

I already pitied the poor staff of _Chambrolay_'s.

Lola swooned. She had once got the hots for Orlando Bloom.[21:5] Of course she was now as dedicated to Drake as can be.

Alas, Drake was flattered by Lola's reaction to the news about Orlando Bloom. He understood it as being compared to one of his great examples to live up to.

Nicole had returned to Kansas immediately after Lola's wedding ceremony. She would certainly have squealed insanely upon hearing about the celebrity.

Aw, I missed Nicole's bimbo talk, today more than ever.

Trevor, on the other hand, had not yet shown up.

Drake had expected him to do so.

Suddenly, Malcolm Reese appeared, followed by Helen Baxter, Logan Reese, and Ashley Blake.

Ashley and Logan appeared mighty upset.

Helen explained, 'a swarm of photographers had not let us pass. But all of a sudden, they were gone for the highway to Los Angelos.'

Lola and Drake greeted their generous sponsor.

Malcolm was glad about the fast progress. But he had something to announce too.

We were curious.

Malcolm started, 'Helen Baxter and I... we are soon going to marry.'

We gasped.

I should have seen something like that coming.

Helen embraced Malcolm violently.

Malcolm grinned with glee.

But for how long had they been planning on this?

Logan was now totally angry. _First Lola and Drake, now Helen and dad..._

Ashley calmed him down. 'They aren't worth it getting angry...'

Logan grinned.

This reveiled Ashley's feelings for Logan.

Malcolm had not really been aware of them. He thought Ashley to be just oput for their money.

But now Ashley declard to stick up even for a disowned Logan.

Logan nodded slowly.

Helen was consternated.

I intervened. 'Sorry, Mr. Reese, you've always complained about Logan's lack of responsibility, but have you ever given him an appropriate chance to learn and demstrate responsibilities?' _Had I really said that?_

Malcolm Reese was petrified.

I explained, 'you've always pushed him away. He had to go to his grandfather during elemantary school breaks. Then he was sent to a boarding school. The only reliable skill he had was waving around with his credit card.' I went on and on.

Helen and Malcolm coughed.

I continued, 'then you thought to be able to get Logan to like Lola.'

'It was Helen's plan,' replied Chaunsey in an apparently embarrassed manner. He had probably promised not to give away such a secret.

Malcolm coughed. 'What?'

Helen sighed. 'I had been around when Malcolm's first wife died. We were working closely together for some soap.'

We looked quizzically.

Helen admitted to have had the plan of getting Malcolm's first born to meet an appropriate relative of his first wife. 'It would have repaired Malcolm's sorrow to see the tragically split family bonds getting renewed.'

Logan coughed, 'Dad?'

Lola and Drake could not say anything,

Granted, Lola had been aware of Malcolm's deeper intentions, but she had not known of the plans' origins... _The idea had been older than Logan himself!_

Helen continued. 'But the plans for Lola and Logan had gone awry. I needed to find some replacement for that idea. At that time, I had already been watching over Drake Parker and his career.'

I could not trust my ears.

Helen had planned for Drake and Lola for over a year before I had that strange idead that glued Lola and Drake together, looking like love at first glance.

Had I been Helen's marionetta all the time? I needed some rest.

Lola and Drake did not mind. They had each other, regardless of how the whole thing had come into being. They were probably doing the right thing.

* * *

The whole day had been very confusing for me.

Along with Dustin and Megan, I was allowed to stay at Drake's and Lola's new home for one night.

Megan and Dustin made fanciful remarks about Lola's and Drake's first common night.

I grunted, 'none of our business!'

We watched TV, California News Channel.

The reporter mentioned an event occurring in Santa Monica. 'Today, Presideny Obama had been residing in _Hotel Chambrolay_, Santa Monica. Without a trace of a warning, a flock of Russian spies stormed the hotel, in particular Obama's room, _President Suite_. Fortunately, LA Police was ready to arrest the disturbers. They are now awaiting some severe punishment. Thanks for your attention.'

Megan chuckled mercilessly.

Nobody was going to believe the paparazzi the nonsense about Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr.

Suddenly, a car's horn started to resound.

I was going to investigate.

Trevor stood outside the mansion. 'I've got a gift for the couple... a new car.'

Megan whispered, 'that "ne" car is nothing but their old dune buggy reworked and repainted.'

I thanked Trevor. Of course, I was not going to let Drake to ride such a thing.

Drake was now married and living away from my home.

But I was not going to care any less about him.

According to Lola, I had been more caring during the last two years than Audrey had been during her whole life.

Now I fell asleep, dreaming about Craig.

* * *

**Chapter 22 Finale**

* * *

During the following days, we moved more and more of Drake's belongings into his new home.

I sighed.

Inspite of having spent only two years with Drake, his tranfer meant some loss for me.

Things were going to be infinitely worse once Dustin was going to depart.

Anyways, I was certainly going to visit Lola and Drake on various occasions.

Someone has to look after them in order to keep them from messing it up, being stuck right between making out and shooting a movie or leaving for a concert.

This was even more valid upon Lola's first pregnancy.

They had always been talking about having several babies, all of them being superstars from early childhood on.

A few weeks later, Mindy Crenshaw was going to take over my tasks as a manager for Drake's band. She was clearly the most uncompromising and thoroughly negotiating among all of us.

My job for _Bloomstale_'s was going to keep me infinitely much more busy than anything hitherto known.

* * *

Alas, I also kept on searching for Megan's and Drake's dad.

Drake and Lola being settled, I dared to ask Helen Baxter-Reese again.

This time, she was no longer able to deny that she had been pulling the strings behind the stage for over ten years. She had employed Crazy Steve properly in order to let him be as close to Drake and Megan Parker as only possible!

Some of Helen's projects had failed.

For example, her atttempts to match Ashley Blake and Drake Parker had gone terribly awry.

But she was flexible enough to switch to tying Drake to Lola as soon as possible.

I felt totally used as a tool, inspite of being absolutely happy for the young couple.

* * *

Two years after the wedding of Drake and Lola, I was invited to the next wedding of one of my friends.

This time, Josh and Quinn raced down the aisle.

I was a bit susperstitious. _Being twice a maid of honour meant ending up as an old spinster._ So I let Lola be a matron of honour. I had to babysit Lola's babies at the same time.

That was no fun!

They were totally spoiled, and they played with everything in side.

But what elese would anyone have expected from the kids of Drake and Lola?

In addition to being now married, Quinn and Josh were already close to winning Nobel's prize.

* * *

I also achieved hiding the relationship of Dustin and Megan from Audrey and dad.

This was some totally hard task stretching for four long years.

But they achieved fooling those stupid parents for so long time.

Once Dustin turned eighteen, they came out with everything.

Audrey and dad were totally consternated and angry. But they had totally deserved it after having been poor excuses of parents for over a decade.

* * *

I climbed the career scale at _Bloomstale_'s rather fast.

My savings allowed me now to support Dustin and Megan finding their own home, independent from any parental restrictions and regulations.

I also found Drake's and Megan's dad.

He was now totally drifting down the drain.

The same was happening to my mom, especially after the saddening death of my grandparents.

Fortunately, we did not need our parents any longer.

* * *

Megan's and Dustin's wedding was very original.

I kept on weeping for many hours. I was infinitely glad for them, but seeing my baby brother getting married even before me made me so excited. I had to guide him down the aisle, as did Drake with Megan.

Dustin's heart bellowed like a rioting pack of lions.

The vibrations made my bones tremble and rattle.

Chase was Dustin's best man.

It was my first time in four years to come to talk to Chase again.

He had been living with Addie in Upstate New York for several years now, with few occasions left to make it to California. He had not known about Dustin and Megan before being asked out as a best man, but he was not really surprised. 'When I was on the double date with Dustin, Megan, and Addie... well, I so realised them to belong together. No double-date cpould have been successful.' He sighed deeply, admiring Dustin and Megan for standing up for their relationship, ispite of all the malevolent opposition from an utterly corrupt and totally hypocritical and irreparably decadent society ruled by "boobs".

Chase was a good choice as a best man. He achieved calming Dustin within a few seconds.

Likewise, Addie was able to do the same unto Megan.

Michael, one of the groomsmen, admitted to having made the same observations during his double-date that had tied him to Wendy.

The age gap between Michael and Wendy had caused them many troubles as well, forcing them into waiting for three long years — probably hell for the young couple — of hiding and waiting. Biy now they had all time in the world.

They had only been meeting for official reunions of Drake's staff, under the auspieces of stern Mindy Crenshaw. And now they were planning their very own wedding.

Even Logan Reese was among the groomsmen.

Logan and Ashley had started taking over a few responsibilities for Malcolm Reese and his enterprise.

This was down to my previous sermon unto Malcolm Reese.

It was now time for Megan and Dustin to utter their wedding promises.

I was too excited to listen.

But their phrases were long and solemn.

Dustin and Megan were now allowed to kiss.

Oh, they had really refrained from doing so before.

And this was not just a consequence of having to hide from dad's and Audrey's perverted control.

Rather, they had learnt to refrain from kissing upon their painful experiences with Corey and Trisha, respectively.

Megan and Dustin admitted, _this was the main reason for our string of failed dates ever since. We were scared and disgusted by the whole kissing stuff of teenagers._

Jack, Janie, Henry, and Monica confirmed, 'of course... this was so evident from their demeanour. They wanted to go their own way, and they were lucky and bold enough to find a way to go it together, no matter what perverts think about that.'

Drake heard them talking. He took his guitar, playing _Found A Way_[22:1].

* * *

Craig and I? We were nowhere near as fast as Drake and Lola. But we did not allow others to dictate their pace.

Inspite of me having skipped Eric's and Stacey's wedding, they had prepared mightily impressive plans and models for a house for me and Craig.

The model was wonderful.

The house was even more marvelous.

Of course Drake and Lola were going to be best man and matron of honour.

Unlike our best couple, we were not sure about kids and stuff.

But one thing was evident:

We were not going to be parents as unreliable as mom and dad and Audrey and her whole league of ex-husbands.

Our relationship was growing rock-solid, as opposed to those quicksand-based ones of most couples nowadays.

**_The End_**

* * *

** 1:1**:

* * *

cf. _Son Of A Dean_

**1:2**:

* * *

cf. _Quarantine_

**1:3**:

* * *

cf. _The Play_

**1:4**:

* * *

cf. _Lola Likes Chase_

**1:5**:

* * *

cf. _Paige At PCA_

**2:1**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Spring Fling_

**2:2**:

* * *

name taken from _Spongebob Squarepants_, which I don't own either

**2:3**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Logan Gets Cut Off_

**2:4**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Favour Chain_, here identified with Robbie Carmichael from _Drake & Josh_ : _Treehouse_, portrayed by the same actor

**3:1**:

* * *

cf. _Hot Dean_

**3:2**:

* * *

cf. _Lola Likes Chase_

**4:1**:

* * *

cameo in _Drake & Josh_ : _Megan's First Kiss_

**4:2**:

* * *

songs by Drake Bell which I don't own

**4:3**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Megan's New Teacher_

**4:4**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _The Storm_

**4:5**:

* * *

cf. _Spring Break-Up_

**5:1**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Megan's New Teacher_

**5:2**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Megan's First Kiss_

**5:3**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Little Diva_

**5:4**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Great Vince Blake_

**6:1**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Haunted House_, and a few cameos before and after

**6:2**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Curse At PCA_

**6:3**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Great Vince Blake_

**7:1**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Quinn Misses The Mark_

**7:2**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Bad Girl_

**7:3**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _The Gary Grill_

**7:4**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_: _Sheep Thrills_

**7:5**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Zoey's Tutor_

**7:6**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Megan's New Teacher_

**7:7**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Backpack_

**7:8**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Honour Council_.

**8:1**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Pool Shark_

**8:2**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Zoey's Balloon_

**8:3**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_: _Treehouse_

**8:4**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Spring Break-Up_

**8:5**:

* * *

surname constructed

**8:6**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Great Doheny_

**8:7**:

* * *

alludes to _Avatar_, a carton which I don't own, featuring some hero named Aang

**9:1**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Honor Council_ — identified with Addie Singer from _Unfabulous_ which I don't own

**9:2**:

* * *

_Zoey 101_ : _Great Vince Blake_ mentions an anonymous cousin of Chase that is skilled in karate

**9:3**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _wrestling_

**9:4**:

* * *

mentioned in _Zoey 101_ : _Chasing Zoey_ — identified with one cameo Mandy in _Drake & Josh_ : _Football_

**10:1**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Fan Number One_ — surname taken from same actress's rôle in _Camp Rock_, a film which I don't own — here also identified with some unportrayed Wendy from _Zoey 101_ : _Bad Girl_

**10:2**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Spring Fling_

**11:1**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Fake Roomie_

**11:2**:

* * *

sometimes mentioned in _Drake & Josh_, but never portrayed

**11:3**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _New Roomies_

**11:4**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Dune Buggy_

**11:5**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Dance Contest_

**11:6**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Paging Dr. Drake_

**12:1**:

* * *

title mentioned in _Bigtime Rush_ : _Big Time Break_, most likely a spoof of _Wizards of Waverly Place_, another show which I don't own

**12:2**:

* * *

mentioned in _The iCarly Show_ : _iRocked The Votes_

**13:1**:

* * *

part of Danted's _Comedia Divina_, rather a cycle of poems than a play

**13:2**:

* * *

mentioned in _Zoey 101_ : _Defending Dustin_

**13:3**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Great Vince Blake_

**13:4**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Zoey's Balloon_ — spooof off _Macarena_, a song by Los Del Rio which I don't own

**13:5**:

* * *

relationship inspired by _Victorious_, another show I don't own, whee same actresses' rôles are sisters

**13:6**:

* * *

mentioned in _Zoey 101_ : _Silver Hammers_

**13:7**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Lola Likes Chase_

**14:1**:

* * *

alludes to Shelby Marx from _The iCarly Show_ : _iFight Shelby Marx_ and her coach Juan — _Zoey 101_ : _Wrestling_ mentions Lola's anonymous dad as a coach of some unspecidfied athletic discipline

**14:2**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Girl Power_ and _The Storm_

**14:3**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _The Storm_ — family name taken from same actress's rôle in _Suite Life_, a show which I don't own

**14:4**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Wrestling_ — first name is from same character's rôle in _The iCarly Show_ : _iHatch Chicks_

**14:5**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _People Auction_

**14:6**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Quarantine_ — surname is from same actress's character in _Hannah Montana_, a show which I don't own

**14:7**:

* * *

identifies Sarah from _Zoey 101_ : _Silver Hammers_ with Kyla from _True Jackson VP_ : _Flirting With Fame_

**14:8**:

* * *

based on _Take Me To The Matador_ by Jeffreys and Garland, a song I don't own

**15:1**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : Josh Runs Into Oprah

**15:2**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Megan's New Teacher_

**15:3**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Peruvian Puff Pepper_

**16:1**:

* * *

mentioned in _Zoey 101_ : _Vince Is Back_ — actually the name was taken from a member of _Schneider's Bakery_

**16:2**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Jet-X_

**16:3**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Dune Buggy_

**17:1**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_: _Backpack_

**17:2**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Robot Wars_

**17:3**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Quarantine_

**17:4**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Paige At PCA_

**17:5**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Zoey's Ribs_

**17:6**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Traiting Places_

**17:7**:

* * *

spoof off _Bloomingdale_

**17:8**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _The Guitar_

**17:9**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Really Big Shrimp_

**17:10**:

* * *

alludes to _True Jackson VP_

**17:11**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Football_

**17:12**:

* * *

cameo in _Zoey 101_ : _Chase's Birthday_

**17:13**:

* * *

cameo in _Zoey 101_ : _Great Vince Blake_

**18:1**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Spring Break-Up_

**18:2**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _The Play_

**19:1**:

* * *

cf._Drake & Josh_ : _Really Big Shrimp_

**19:2**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Wrestling_

**19:3**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Back At PCA_

**19:4**:

* * *

inspired by _The iCarly Show_

**20:1**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Girls' Power_

**20:2**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Hot Dean_

**20:3**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _The Radio_

**20:4**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Zoey's Balloon_

**21:1**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Quinn's Alpaca_

**21:2**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Chase's Girlfriend_

**21:3**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Aliens_

**21:4**:

* * *

alludes to _Camp Rock_

**21:5**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Time Capsule_

**22:1**:

* * *

song by Drake Bell which I don't owm 


End file.
